In the Dominion of Shadows
by Pen-Name-Kitsune-chan
Summary: Naruto wakes up the day Sasuke left for Orochimaru with memories of a nonexistant future. But with the barriers between worlds worn thin, he quickly loses the advantage of foresight. NaruSasu SasuNaru yaoi TimeTravel character death
1. Chapter 1

**So... Yeah. Finally posting again. This is a WIP, that I've been developing on and off for... a while. Finally decided to start posting it. Probably won't be completed for a while (if ever), but at least it might inspire someone or something. It's currently at four chapters and 22,000-ish words, with a fifth chapter in the works. I'll try and update once a week, until I run out of pre-written chapters.**

**Warnings: timetravel, NaruSasuNaru yaoi, _major_ character death, will probably be discontinued at some point, possibly slight AU or AT (alternate timeline), use of present tense (flashbacks are in past)**

**Note: title has absolutely nothing to do with the book by the almost same name, and was actually conceived of independently. I only found out about the book when I googled my title to see if it was unique**

**And another note: completely not happy with my summary. Can anyone suggest an alternate?**

**One point: if, over the next week and a half or so, _nobody_ reviews, I'll assume that nobody wants to read this story (or cares enough about it to hit a button and type all of six letters), and I'll take it down. I would seriously accept a simple 'update.' I accept anonymous reviews, so you don't even need an account. Just please give me some feedback on the story.**

...

**Chapter One**

_Pain. Fire rippling through his veins, his muscles taut, stressed nearly to the point of snapping. He thrashed, trying in vain to break their hold._

_Falling, falling, falling, into fire and ash and darkness..._

_Dripping water, a red glow from the gloom._

_"I refuse to let Madara win!" A load roar that reverberated through his soul..._

_The world melts and swirls, turning into a dizzying, rushing mix of color, light, sound, feeling..._

_A bright white light, ghosts lurking within. Konoha, a bouquet of paper roses... Loss, feeling lost, was this how Sasuke felt? Running, running, running, always running, fighting for the slightest glimpse of that face... Black hair and pale skin like ink and paper... The world stretching out before his feet, fear and hatred and burning desire..._

_He fell past loneliness and misery and slammed into himself with a force that shook the universe._

...

_(Now)_

Naruto opens his eyes and then promptly squeezes them shut again. The sun shines merrily, the birds sing, and Naruto feels like shit.

_'Where?'_ he thinks.

_'A more appropriate question,'_ a voice replies, deep and rumbling, _'Would be _when_, you worthless lump of flesh, bones, and blood.'_

Naruto blinks. His mind scrambles frantically but sluggishly, before finally placing the voice. _'Kyuubi?'_ But the fox has never been able to speak to him outside of his mindscape before!

_'Yeah, well, screwing around with the laws of physics tends to have numerous side effects, brat,'_ the Kyuubi rumbles back. _'And, no, unfortunately I'm not about to escape. Fucking blonds and goddamn redheads...'_ The Kyuubi mutters the last statement, and Naruto gets the feeling that he wasn't supposed to be able to hear it.

_'What do you mean?'_ he asks, mentally casting about for some metaphorical ground to stand on. His head aches fiercely, and his eyes burn as he tries to figure out for himself what the fox could possibly be saying.

_'You got caught, moron,'_ the fox replies, _'And I _refuse_ to be the slave of that accursed Uchiha ever again! So, I brought us some time.'_

Naruto takes note of all the little inflection contained within the fox's statement, trying to analyze it for true meaning, not at all fazed by its vagueness. Something occurs to him, a brief memory of the fox's previous words. _'What did you mean, 'when'?'_ he asks.

The fox feels decidedly smug. Its emotions resonate over their bond, sharper than Naruto remembers them ever being. _'Welcome to the past, brat,'_ it says, voice triumphant.

Nothing moves in Naruto's mind for a few moments. Then: _'WHAT?'_

Before the fox can reply, someone knocks at his door. The pulsing pressure of the Kyuubi's chakra – strange, that he didn't notice it until it left – fades from his awareness. Naruto sits up and glances at the door. An uneasy feeling grows in his gut at he gets up and walks to answer it. When he opens the door, Shikamaru stands there, in his chunin uniform, a serious expression on his face.

"Don't tell me," Naruto whispers. _'Today of all days... Why not a day earlier?'_

"Naruto, Sasuke's left Konoha," Shikamaru says, eyes narrowing at Naruto's whisper. "We're forming a team to retrieve him."

Naruto's head spins and his mind still can't quite grasp what's going on, but he finds himself speaking without entirely realizing it. "We're going to need powerful people, several of them, all skilled... There're four with Sasuke, all some of Orochimaru's strongest, a fifth likely on the way..."

"How do you know that?" Shikamaru interrupts his musings, yanking Naruto back into the real world. Naruto's throat goes dry as he casts about for a believable story.

"I saw them... Talking to Sasuke, fighting a bit with him, not very long ago. I... I'd spoken to him, just after, and I'd been so _sure_ that he wasn't listening to them..." Naruto lets his confusion over the Kyuubi's actions rise to the fore, desperation and self-incrimination lacing his tone. Shikamaru still looks suspicious, although probably now over why Naruto didn't tell anyone. "One... One of them's a genjutsu mistress probably, another sprouted extra arms so he had six, the third looked like two people fused together, the fourth... I couldn't tell anything about him."

Naruto wants so desperately to reveal everything he knows of the Sound Four's abilities, but that, more than anything, would ring warning bells in Shikamaru's head. Although his thoughts still churn, Naruto has regained enough stability in his mind to know better than to reveal himself without first establishing a firm ground to stand on, and definitely without first making sure that he has enough time to spare for the interrogation that's sure to follow.

Shikamaru accepts his words, although somewhat reluctantly. Naruto nods and runs back inside to change. He quickly throws on his orange pants and a black t-shirt, leaving the jacket behind. "Who're we getting?" he asks once he emerges, tying his headband into place.

"Chouji, Neji, Kiba, plus you and me," Shikamaru replies.

"Not nearly enough," Naruto says. "Damn, Lee's still in the hospital, isn't he... We should bring Tenten."

"She's a girl!" Shikamaru argues, "And she was beaten by that Suna girl, Temari."

"Temari was something of a 'perfect enemy', though," Naruto shoots back, "And Tenten's extremely good. We should also bring Shino along..." He searches his mind frantically, trying to remember who was/ is at what level. '_Fuck, Hinata's still fairly weak in this time, and Ino has yet to get serious... Konohamaru and his team are still kids, I don't have most of my allies and connections yet, and Sai probably has no clue who the fuck I am...' _

Pushing his thoughts aside, Naruto continues with, "I can form shadow clones and send them out to fetch all five, and I know someone from Suna who should be nearby and owes me a favor big-time... I'll send another clone to ask Tsunade to send word, asking for assistance."

"Whatever," Shikamaru replies. "Do you think that they'll be enough?"

"No," Naruto says immediately, "But it's the best we can do."

Naruto crosses his fingers in the shadow-clone seal, summoning six clones into existence. With a nod, each runs off to their respective targets. "They'll fetch the others," Naruto says. "We should meet at the front gates in fifteen, thirty minutes. Sound good?" Shikamaru nods, and they split up.

Meanwhile, one of the clones speeds up, sprinting towards where his fuzzy memory says that Tenten should be training this time of day. He finds her with little trouble, practicing her aerial throws.

"Tenten!" he gasps out, and she twirls around. "Sasuke's left Konoha, and Tsunade-sama's having me and Shikamaru put together a team of genin since there're no free chunin and jounin."

"What?" she replies, eyes widening, clearly stunned. "When do we leave?" she asks almost immediately, pushing aside her shock with an admirable amount of professionalism. "Where should I meet you guys?"

"Front gates, fifteen to thirty minutes," Naruto replies, turning to leave. Behind him, he can feel Tenten's chakra signature as she collects her weapons and heads off, likely returning to her own house to get prepared.

Once he's out of her sight, the Naruto clone dismisses himself, his memories returning to the original. Soon, all six clones have delivered their messages, the sixth convincing Tsunade to send word to Suna asking for help nearly an hour before she would have originally. After it leaves her presence, the sixth ducks into an alleyway and uses the summoning technique.

Gamakichi appears in front of the clone in a cloud of smoke. Not waiting for the young toad's customary greeting, the Naruto clone crouches down in front of him. "Gamakichi, I've got a mission of great importance for you," it says. "I need you to take a message to Gaara – the Ichibi no Shukaku no jinchuuriki – and his team. He's gained control of himself since we fought, so Shukaku shouldn't be a problem."

"Sure thing," the toad says, picking up on the serious edge in Naruto's tone.

Naruto nods. "If my memory serves correctly," Naruto wishes that he had paid more attention and asked more questions after the original mission, "they should be in River Country, close to the north-eastern border." Sadly, Naruto can't remember anything more specific than that. "You remember his chakra signature?"

"Couldn't forget it."

"Okay, then." Naruto clears his throat and starts to explain the recent situation. He gives Gamakichi the details of the path that they'll likely be taking, and every fact about the Sound Five that he both gleaned from the others after the original mission and still remembers. Gaara, unlike Shikamaru, is unlikely to ask questions that Naruto doesn't want answered, and, even if he does figure out that something's up, he's much, much less likely to be a problem.

"Got that?" Naruto asks at last, and Gamakichi nods.

"See ya!" the small toad declares, before vanishing with a 'poof' and a cloud of smoke. The Naruto clone then stands and dismisses itself as well.

Meanwhile, once Shikamaru has left his line of sight, the original forms the shadow-clone seal again, summoning two additional shadow clones into existence. They vanish, shunshin'ing away towards the direction of the Sound Four – and the outskirts of Konoha – at full speed. Naruto then turns, goes back into the house, and starts raiding all of his bolt-holes for spare shinobi supplies and money.

He pulls out every blank scroll that he can find and a cheap calligraphy set and then summons another ten shadow clones into existence. They immediately set to work, sealing weapons and jutsu effects into the scrolls. A smaller scroll, designed to be released in a spiral, containing an unstable wind-infused Oodama Rasengan... Another scroll, the kanji long and complex, to summon fire techniques to be used with his wind. Scrolls like massive explosive notes, to be used by shadow clones, scrolls of sealing and subduing, scrolls with weapons and shinobi tools and supplies (Naruto knows to be prepared for anything, and several ideas ferment in the back of his mind – he packs food and clothing and money that he's been saving up since he was small, enough for weeks if not months, _just in case_)...

Naruto gathers his chakra again and creates yet another clone, taking his shirt off as he does so. He has the clone start drawing seals upon Naruto's body, ones designed to filter out the more harmful aspects of Kyuubi's chakra, to protect him from electric attacks, to bolster his stamina, to temporarily (and falsely) extend the limits of his physical body, so that he can fight past the point where he would otherwise have collapsed.

As the clones pack, one's hand comes to hover over a fuuma shuriken. It glances at Naruto, sharing his thought processes, and, making a split-second decision, Naruto signals for it to set the collapsible, massive weapon aside. He tugs his shirt on once the clone finishes with the twisting lines of characters that make up his seals and stands to walk over to the piles of scrolls and single weapon. He slings the fuuma shuriken across his back, so that it rests low and near his right hip for easy access in battle.

Naruto then takes the scrolls – only five, all of the smaller scrolls having been condensed and sealed into master scrolls – and slips them into the specially designed pouches on the front of the wide strap of the sling. He dismisses the clones and starts running for the gate, noting with a curse that he's on the verge of being late.

He finally arrives just after Shino, who had been the farthest from the gate, does. "Everyone ready?" Shikamaru almost immediately asks, surveying the gathered genin. They all nod in unison. "I'll need to check your supplies."

Naruto glimpses Lee standing nearby, and, while Shikamaru checks over the others, Naruto walks over to the other genin. "Hey," he says, getting Lee's attention. He notices quickly how melancholy the other looks. "Don't beat yourself up over not being able to come with us... You're an amazing shinobi, and I know that anybody else would have died in that fight. This," Naruto gestures widely, indicating the partial paralysis, "Isn't your fault, and, with Tsunade-baa-chan here, it isn't permanent. You'll get better, and then we can become the greatest shinobi ever together!"

Lee grins in response to Naruto's speech. "Thank you," he says. "Still... Everyone else is able to do something, while I just have to sit here..."

"And someday," Naruto replies, voice full of conviction, "It'll be us unable to fight, and you'll be the hero. For today, though, leave it all to me. I swear that I'll make sure that everyone returns okay!"

They share a soft smile, and Lee says, "I would wish you luck, Naruto-kun, but I know that you won't need it, because you have your hard work and flames of youth on your side!"

Naruto beams and turns back to the others, his turn having come up to get his supplies examined. "Thanks, Lee," he calls back over his shoulder. "Stay safe, alright?"

"I promise!" Lee replies.

Shikamaru raises an eyebrow at the scrolls that Naruto decided to bring along, not to mention the bulky fuuma shuriken. Shikamaru then checks Naruto's kunai and explosive tags while Naruto glances around, habitually scanning the surrounding area for potential threats.

"Okay, everyone's checked out." Shikamaru's eyes roam over the gathered genin, and he crouches down. "Now, for team arrangements..."

"Shikamaru," Naruto interrupts, "I'm pretty sure what you're going to say, and I have some suggestions to make."

"What?" Shikamaru asks, annoyed.

Naruto breathes out heavily and crouches down beside Shikamaru, pulling the piece of paper and pencil that the chunin had taken out towards himself. He quickly sketches little figures, pointing to each one in turn. "Neji should go in front with his Byakugan – any and all threats are likely to come from that direction, unless we walk through an ambush, and he should be able to mitigate that possibility."

A brief thought filters through Naruto's mind that he shouldn't be using words like 'mitigate' yet, but he needs to be taken seriously more than he needs secrecy, so he decides to take the risk.

He indicates the general layout of the figures with a sweep of his hand, continuing with explaining his plan. "Their attacks are most likely to come in one of three forms: 'ray', 'cone', or 'area of effect', the last basically a vaguely circular attack zone." Naruto knows that those aren't the technical terms for the more common high-level attack patterns (which mostly, come to think of it, hadn't been fully established yet at this point in time, not until Orochimaru's insane body-modifications for his soldiers were stolen, improved, streamlined, and became common-place), but he didn't exactly have time to learn them in the midst of a war.

"We shouldn't walk single file, nor should we bunch up. If we're all spread out, that greatly reduces the chance that they'll be able to take us all out in one move... These aren't genin we're fighting, you know," he defends himself when he sees their incredulous looks. (Well, except for Tenten, Shikamaru, and Shino. Shino looks like Shino, Shikamaru looks suspicious, and Tenten looks thoughtful.) "I'd be shocked if they _didn't_ have some kind of way of taking a large group out all at once."

Although he only would be shocked because he's used to a future of city-killer jutsu, and he knows how the Sound Four work. Jutsu designed to easily kill everyone in a certain area won't be commonplace for another four years (in warfare, Naruto figures, Orochimaru's always been ahead of the curve).

"Makes sense," Tenten says, interrupting anything that the others might feel like saying. "Who else is where?"

Naruto nods gratefully to her and point at a figure to the far right of and just barely behind Neji. "Kiba and Akamaru should be here. They're both heavy-hitters and good front-line fighters. We catch up to the enemy, they launch into an attack, giving the rest of us time to position ourselves. Plus, with their heightened sense, they'll be difficult to sneak up on, and they'll be able to smell the enemy's tracks if and when they get out of range of Neji's Byakugan. "

Checking to see that he has their attention, Naruto shifts his focus to another figure a distance behind Neji and slightly to the left. "Shino should go here. He, like Kiba and Neji, will be extremely difficult to sneak-attack, and he's strong enough to fend off an attack long enough for everyone else to react. Plus, from what I know of how Aburame fight, he'll do best starting a distance back from the fight."

Shino nods, acknowledging Naruto's conclusions. Naruto returns his nod, and continues with the figure in the center, between Neji and Kiba and just ahead of Shino. "I'll be in the middle here. Regardless of what you all might think, I tend to be very situationally aware and a quick responder. I'm versatile, and so I'll be the first to offer aid to anyone who gets in trouble... Plus, that makes me the most likely to get caught in a powerful area attack, and, because I have an insanely fast healing rate, I'll be the first to recover from something like that."

Nobody moves to interrupt him or protest his self-characterization, so Naruto continues, pointing to a figure around the same level back as Naruto and a bit to the right of Kiba. "Shikamaru will be here. He's going to be our worst in a close-range fight, and, because this is something of our 'strong side', the enemy is unlikely to attack here. From this position, Shikamaru will have time to formulate a plan and use his shadow techniques."

Shikamaru peers at the configuration and mutters, somewhat wonderingly, "He's actually right."

Naruto ignores that and points to the figure roughly behind Shikamaru, at around the same level as Shino. "Chouji will be here. Due to the nature of his attacks, it'd be best for him to have a bit of a running start, and he's strong enough that even a surprise attack shouldn't be enough to take him out before the rest of us can get there. Once again, the enemy is unlikely to attack in this area, so the fact that Chouji doesn't have the same heightened senses as Neji, Kiba, Shino, and myself shouldn't be too much of an issue."

He glances up at all of them. Their skeptic looks have slowly faded, and they're beginning to accept his plan. Good. Naruto indicates the final figure, the farthest back and positioned between Neji and Shino. "Tenten'll be here. She'd do best ranged, but she also is skilled at analyzing her surroundings, and she can hold her own in a melee fight. She'd probably do best in a situation where we're taken by surprise, too."

The others (except for Neji) all glance at Tenten, as if to ascertain Naruto's analysis – after all, they haven't exactly seen her fight before. "He's right," she says. "I'm trained to use several types of swords and daggers, although thrown weapons are my specialty." She gives Naruto a questioning look, clearly wondering how he knew that, while Neji nods, confirming her words.

They other genin all then turn to Shikamaru, clearly asking for his verdict on Naruto's plan. The chunin appears deep in thought, staring at the quick sketch Naruto made. "Sounds good," Shikamaru sighs at last, murmuring, "So troublesome..."

Shikamaru stands up then, stretching, and proceeds to give the speech that Naruto vaguely remembers from the first time around, about how he doesn't, personally, give a shit about Sasuke, but Sasuke's a comrade, yadda, yadda, yadda. They're just about to leave when Sakura runs up.

Naruto _definitely_ remembers this, and his plans to change things begin to truly crystallize in his mind for the first time. He has to fight back the urge to scowl at her, his memories of the past... How she shook her head and cried, just backed away and _did nothing _as Sasuke lay there bleeding to death... He watches as, in this new reality, Shikamaru and Sakura talk, feeling detached, like he's watching his body move of its own accord, when Sakura turns to him.

"Please, Naruto, bring Sasuke-kun back!"

He grins at her, thinking _'I'm sorry, Sakura, but I can't promise that... Not this time.'_ "Sakura... I understand how you feel, that pain that feels like claws in your heart, tearing you into pieces, leaving a hole behind that pulses through you like waves, threatens to swallow you..." His voice dies off, and he forces himself to grin again. Naruto raises his hand into the 'nice-guy' pose, unable to summon the necessary bright smile when he feels so stressed, so hurt inside. "Don't worry, Sakura... I swear that I'll do whatever it takes to save Sasuke! Promise of a lifetime!"

_'Save him... Even from himself... Even from you, from Konoha. But I won't let things get that bad ever again, so it doesn't matter. Not yet. Save Sasuke... But not bring him back, I'm not so naive anymore, to think that those two things necessarily equal one another. If I can, I will, but I'm not hanging all my hopes on a fool's dream... Isn't that what Ero-Sennin called it? A wild goose chase, bringing Sasuke back.'_

Is he the only one who understands the meaning of his words? Sakura, Lee, Kiba, everyone all smile or look approving... Is that a glint of suspicion in Shikamaru's eyes? Is he misinterpreting the searching look that Tenten gives him?

It doesn't seem to matter, as Kiba grins and asks, "Hey, Naruto, sure you'll be able to keep that promise?"

Naruto lowers his hand and turns to Kiba, a dead serious look on his face. "I never go back on my word, Kiba. That's who I am."

So many little changes, a thousand connotations to words... Are they really all so blind to his still forming deception? Although he seems suspicious, Naruto doubts that even Shikamaru has guessed the true meaning of Naruto's actions.

"Alright, everyone," Naruto says, his voice softer and steadier than it was originally, "We've wasted enough time as it is. Let's hurry."

Meanwhile, his two clones shoot far ahead of the group, closer to where the Sound Four are and will be going, before finding a separate isolated area for each clone, where they can meditate for hours and not be disturbed. Once each has secured his position, he starts meditating and drawing nature chakra from the surrounding environment.

At the Front Gate, Team Shikamaru starts running.

...

**Glossary of Terms:**

**Konoha: Leaf, short for 'village hidden in the leaves'**

**Suna: Sand, short for 'village hidden in the sand'**

**Shunshin: body flicker, used to move short to long distances at high speeds**

**Shinobi: another word for ninja. As a note, neither this nor 'ninja' will be put into the English plural in this story, since Japanese lacks a plural form, and one of my pet peeves is seeing people use 'shinobis' or 'ninjas'. **

**Oodama Rasengan: great spiraling sphere, like an ordinary rasengan on steroids**

**Ero-Sennin: Perverted Sage, what Naruto calls Jiraiya**

**Fuuma shuriken: 'windmill' shuriken, those big things that fold up and can be flicked open. **

**Please review. It encourages me to continue writing. Also, please point out any problems you see, and feel free to bring up any suggestions. Was the present-tense annoying? (Should I go back and change it all to past?) What do you think of Naruto's characterization?**


	2. Chapter 2

**In honor of the all of _three_ people who actually bothered reviewing this (out of over eighty who read it), I'm updating two days early. I'll update next Saturday no matter what, but I'll update a day earlier for every review beyond one I get. Sound fair?**

**Warnings: timetravel, yaoi/ slash, NaruSasuNaru, cursing, present tense (flashbacks are in past), alternate timeline, character death, might take a while to get past four chapters (I've hit major writer's block on the fifth. As a note, in-depth reviews are commonly known to be one of the best cures for writer's block. Seriously). Also, ffn keeps deleting my scene breaks, so I might have missed one or two. Review and alert me if that's the case.**

**Please review and tell me what you think!**

**...**

_The Story So Far:_

_Naruto wakes up the day of Sasuke's defection with memories of the future. He convinces Shikamaru to bring Tenten and Shino along on the mission and sends a message early to Gaara, asking for help. Naruto starts making changes to the strategy and to his interaction with others, convincing Lee to stay behind and altering his promise to Sakura. In preparation for future battles, he sends two clones ahead to gather Sage Chakra._

**Chapter Two**

(Then)

_Naruto didn't think that the moon was supposed to be a dull crimson red, like the sharingan, like his own eyes under the influence of the Kyuubi. He also was fairly certain that the moon was a waning crescent, not full, and hadn't it been daytime, anyways?_

_Black clouds against a red sky – Naruto felt faint amusement at the reversal. The wind stirred his glowing white hair, grown long a while ago until it fell to the middle of his back. _

_"I had wished that you wouldn't have to use my gift," a voice, silky and deep, sounded from behind him._

_Naruto continued staring at the demented sky. "Yeah, well," he said, "We can't always get what we wish for." A lesson he learned, written in blood and sweat and bitter tears..._

_The other made an affirmative sound, and silence reigned again, eerily complete, so much so that Naruto's ears rang. He had never experienced true silence before._

_Power pulsed beneath the surface, rolling and straining against his hold. He could feel the gift of the other, threading its way through his own chakra, his own body and mind, opposing the commanding pull of the enemy. _

_But skill, no matter how great, has never been a match for centuries' worth of knowledge and experience. No matter how hard they fought, regardless of the quality of the other's gift, Naruto found that he was entirely unable to win._

_The hole in his heart expanded and grew like a raging wildfire, and bloody tears ran down Naruto's whiskered cheeks._

...

_(Now)_

Over an hour into their mad rush in pursuit of Sasuke and the Sound Four, the scent of blood, carried by the steadily increasing wind, hits Naruto's sensitive nose. He can tell from the increasingly irritated buzzing of Shino's insects and the heavy sniffing of Kiba that they have noticed it, too.

"I smell blood!" Kiba declares, taking another sniff. "Sasuke plus four others, fighting two... The five are getting farther away! What's the plan?"

"So," Shikamaru muses, his voice dark, "Naruto was right – Sasuke has help." Naruto can smell, briefly and faintly in the whipping winds and over their fast movement, the consternation of the others, supported by the sounds of their altering pulses.

"We should continue after Sasuke," Naruto states, fighting to keep his voice calm. "I'll send shadow clones to talk to the ones that fought the Sound nin and get information on our opponents."

"Wouldn't we then have to slow down so that your clones could catch up and deliver the information?" Neji asks, tilting his head slightly to glance more directly at Naruto.

Naruto shakes his head. "No. When my clones dismiss, their experiences and memories return to me. It's designed as a recon jutsu, after all, since the chakra it takes makes it, in most cases, inefficient for combat."

"Alright!" Shikamaru declares. "We'll continue after Sasuke – Naruto, deploy your shadow clones." Naruto does so, forming his hands into the unique seal of the kage-bunshin mid-leap. Three – Naruto has to be mindful of the two gathering nature chakra – clones appear in silent clouds of smoke, and Naruto spares a moment's thought to wonder if he should have displayed his mastery of the jutsu like that.

The three clones land on nearby branches and, as one, start sprinting towards where Naruto can smell the downed team to be. "Hey!" Kiba calls out, glancing back at Naruto over his shoulder, "How do you know where they are?"

"You're not the only one with a good sense of smell, dog breath!" Naruto shoots back, and Kiba bares his teeth.

"Cut it out you two," Shikamaru interjects. "Everyone, be alert! After their fight, the enemy will be expecting hunter-nin to come after them – we'll need to watch out for traps and ambushes. Got that?"

They all make various sounds of affirmation. Naruto zones out slightly, knowing that they won't actually face combat yet, and starts focusing instead on hammering out the details of the confrontations to come.

Slowly, incrementally, Team Shikamaru starts to gain on the Sound Four and Sasuke.

...

Meanwhile, the three clones waste no time in shunshin'ing to just before where the four man team recuperates from their fight with the Sound Four. The clones run the rest of the way, alighting on a branch just above the clearing. All four shinobi snap towards them, the two still standing raising weapons – a senbon for Shizune, a kunai for the other guy (wasn't he some random chunin or another? Naruto can only vaguely remember him).

"What are you doing here, Naruto?" Shizune asks, clearly taken back by his appearance.

The central Naruto clone quickly outlines what had happened and Team Shikamaru's mission. "Kiba smelled the blood," he says, "So we know that you guys got into a fight with the Sound Four. Please, we need as much information as you can give!"

"Wait a second," another – large burn scar, the tokubetsu jounin Raidou, then; badly wounded, too, Naruto notes – interrupts, "A bunch of genin aren't going to be able to win against them!"

"You got any better ideas?" Naruto snaps, and then takes a deep breath and continues in a more level tone, "Anyways, I've got a really powerful friend and his team on the way – he should be here soon enough, we just need to stall the Sound Four until then."

The fourth – Naruto recognizes him as Genma – pushes himself up a bit and turns to Naruto. "The brat's more or less right," he acknowledges, mostly talking to his team, and then quickly tells Naruto everything he observed of the fighting styles of the Four. Naruto nods in response, updating his mental 'files' on them – he has a good memory for abilities and tactics, but over the intervening years his memory had grown steadily fuzzier, leaving most of his recollections focused around that fateful confrontation with Sasuke.

After Genma finishes, Shizune glances up from where she has turned back to healing Raidou and says, "Genma and Raidou are pretty much stable now. They'll need to be taken back to Konoha, but if you could have you clones do that, then Iwashi and I could lend our assistance."

The central Naruto clone nods and signals to the other two. They jump down to the forest floor and, with Shizune's help, pick up the two wounded tokubetsu jounin. "Go carefully," Shizune says.

"We will," the two clones reply in concert, before starting to run slowly back to Konoha, keeping in mind their supposed level.

The remaining clone jumps down once they leave and starts forming hand seals, their shapes radically different from the twelve standard shinobi signs. Light flows from his twining fingers, coalescing into a gently glowing ball of light. "This'll lead you to the team," Naruto says. "I need to dismiss to inform the boss of what's going on."

The chunin – Iwashi – makes a sound of confusion, and Shizune explains to him the primary function of the shadow clones as Naruto molds his chakra and forces it away from his body, vanishing from sight.

...

The real Naruto receives the memories with barely a blink. He calls out to the others and, making sure that he has their attention, explains everything that Genma had told him, adding on his own knowledge, so that he can pass it off for theirs. "Everyone got that?" Naruto asks, and the others nod.

They continue running for only a short time before a memory tickles at the back of Naruto's mind. He instantly snaps into full awareness, feeding Kyuubi's chakra to his eyes, only off-handedly noting how easily it flows. The world explodes into carefully defined detail around him, shadows seeming fully lit, everything moving in slower motion, his eyesight ten times clearer and sharper than before. His hearing and smell improve as well, bombarding Naruto with information that he has to quickly shove out of the way.

"Everyone stop!" he calls out, using chakra to stick to a branch. They do so, all glancing towards him. Naruto can clearly see and hear and smell Akamaru's agitation as the small dog's hackles raise and a low growl builds in his throat. Naruto holds his head so that his bangs shadow his eyes, knowing still that it's fairly useless – his irises must practically glow in the gloom, backlit by reflected light.

"What is it?" Shikamaru asks, eyeing Naruto both nervously and suspiciously.

Naruto twitches his nose, enhanced senses (moreso than this child-Kiba, he realizes) picking up on the faint traces of Orochimaru's inhuman chakra. "Traps," he says, "Plus, the enemy's up ahead – I think they've stopped to rest." He can't feel their chakra, not yet, but the vile pulsing of the barrel thing that they sealed Sasuke in raises hairs on the back of Naruto's neck and brings a snarl to his lips. He flexes his hands, noting absently the cracking as they slowly reform into claws.

He creates a shadow clone, silently and with barely a whisper of chakra, and sends it ahead. Naruto curses the fact that he can't easily make more, not without risking breaking the concentration of the two that currently meditate, gathering nature chakra. "My clone will go on ahead," he explains, "to scout and warn us of any traps." Naruto then surreptitiously dismisses one of the two clones gathering nature chakra, clamping down on the surge as it reaches him, diverting the majority towards his scouting clone, letting a tiny amount rise up within him in order to further improve his senses.

"How many do you think are in the tree tops?" Shikamaru asks, clearly already thinking of taking the floor route. Naruto remembers how that turned out last time. He closes his eyes and lets the fox's chakra mixed with the nature chakra bleed out of him in thin, twisting tendrils. He grows painfully aware of the agitated buzzing of Shino's chakra-sensitive insects, the low growling of first Akamaru and now Kiba, the piercing gaze of Neji.

Naruto drops into meditation, letting the rhythms of the world around him flow into and over him, like falling into sync with a musical beat. The mixture of nature and the Kyuubi's chakra, guided partially by Naruto's force of will and partially by the Kyuubi's (somewhat reluctant) compliance, eases into those patterns, testing for disturbances. Just ahead, the edge of the barrier seal... Beyond it, nothing.

"Only one chakra-based," Naruto replies to Shikamaru's question, rising to a higher state of awareness but not coming entirely out of the meditation. "It's a barrier seal – those go off when someone walks into the middle of them," he explains for the others' benefits. "I think that it's supposed to force us to the ground. There's some kind of web-like layered trap down there, but I'm having trouble pinpointing it."

Actually, he didn't check the forest floor, but they don't need to know that. Naruto sinks back into the deeper meditative state, seeking the thread of his chakra that connects tentatively to the globe of foxfire that guides Shizune and Iwashi to them. He senses his shadow clone, already probing the edges of the barrier seal, and beyond that... The foxfire grows steadily and swiftly closer, moving at the breakneck speeds of well-trained shinobi. He can feel it, only a minute out.

Surfacing entirely from his meditation, Naruto glances up and around at his companion. "The enemy's not going anywhere. The jounin and chunin that'll be joining us are nearly here. Let's wait for them before moving out. Meanwhile, we can figure out a way to get past the barrier seal."

Scenarios already race through Naruto's mind: will the Sound Four notice if the barrier trap is sprung (he can easily use a shadow clone)? Is the barrier seal _even there_, or did they set it up so that it _looks_ like it's real (because Naruto knows from years of training that a properly set barrier seal takes time and effort)? _Is_ it properly set? Could Shizune, maybe with Neji's help, safely dismantle the threads tying it together? Could _Naruto_ neutralize the seal, without it being extremely suspicious? How far do the edges of the seal extend, anyways? Can they go over it? Would it be reasonable to go around it?

"I've heard of barrier seals before," Neji comments, focusing his Byakugan towards the enemy. Does he see the faint flicker of the trap's chakra? Chouji asks about them, and Shikamaru explains in more technical and complete detail than Naruto did. Naruto fidgets, irritated, but he calms himself by figuring that they need to wait _anyways_, and the need for silence hasn't presented itself yet.

Naruto descends into meditation again, this time seeking out the nearly indistinguishable threads of chakra that connect him to his shadow clones. The scout has started skirting the barrier seal, trying to find a safe and quick way around it. The two clones sent back with Raidou and Genma grow steadily closer to Konoha – they're nearly at their destination, but not so close that Naruto will be able to use his shadow clones in the next fight without risking disrupting the one remaining gathering nature chakra.

That one has nearly reached the limit transferable over this distance, so Naruto contemplates going ahead and releasing it to use further in scouting and the upcoming fight. Can he use more than a miniscule amount of nature chakra without it being obvious? Neji will almost certainly notice the difference, but will any of the others? Would Neji realize that the difference is significant?

Speaking of Neji... Naruto rises out of his meditation and turns to the Hyuuga. "Neji, can you focus your Byakugan forwards and fifteen degrees to the left, a little less than three and a half kilometers from here?"

Neji nods and does so, his chakra flaring as he strains his Byakugan. "There are four of them, all Oto shinobi, resting, with what looks like a barrel of some sort... It practically glows with chakra, and there might be someone in it, but I can't tell from this distance..."

A growl, low and rumbling, starts to build in Naruto's throat at the mention of the technique that activated the second level of Sasuke's curse seal. He chokes it back, though, not wishing to alarm his teammates overly much.

A faint tickle against his mind, and Naruto's head snaps up. "Back-up's here," he says. Just a few seconds later, Iwashi and Shizune shunshin onto a branch just above and behind the gathered genin, the globe of foxfire bobbing gently in front of them before dissolving into the ambient chakra. Naruto explains the situation in short, precise sentences – a formula for reporting that Naruto learned the theory of from Jiraiya and the reality of from war.

Shizune seems suspicious at Naruto's apparent sudden increase in professionalism and intelligence, but the urgency of the situation clearly overrides other concerns. (After all, people react quite differently to extreme pressure, some becoming basket-cases, some ceasing to respond to outside stimuli, some ascending new heights, galvanized in a way that they never would have been otherwise – as a wartime medic, Shizune has firsthand experience of many of these types of results.)

When Naruto brings up his idea of having her disrupt the chakra of the seal (possibly guided by Neji's Byakugan), she deliberates the possibility of the suggestion before slowly nodding. "Whether the idea works will depend on the specific subtype of seal, though," she comments. "From what I remember of barrier seals, some of them will automatically reset themselves. I don't have enough chakra to keep one of those off for long enough for all of us to cross it."

Naruto has to bite his lip to keep from revealing that he knows how to permanently defuse even resetting seals (up to a certain level of complexity, that is) as a result of his training with Jiraiya. He doesn't have the necessary materials to do the job properly, anyways, and nothing says 'suspicious' (or paints it in glowing neon letters) like possessing knowledge limited to a very small handful of people in the world, one of whom you are not supposed to be.

They rearrange Shizune and Iwashi into the formation – Shizune towards the middle left edge, more-or-less between Shino and Tenten, to keep her (their only medic) out of battle and allow her (their new team leader) time to react and make decisions, with Iwashi in front, just before and roughly in between Neji and Kiba, as a first responder. They then start running towards the area of the seal and, with a focused thought, Naruto dismisses the scouting shadow clone. He spends about half a minute sorting through its memories before calling out to the others.

"I had a shadow clone survey the edges of the seal," he states, falling back into the nearly monotonous standardized reporting style. "It extends high into the trees, where the branches are much weaker and farther apart – most of the genin here won't be able to maintain chakra control well enough to balance jumping far enough and not breaking the branches, so that route's probably out. The seal's also oval shaped, narrow between us and the Sound Four but extending out for a distance both left and right. The lowest seals are below the branch line, mostly likely in order to force us to the forest floor."

Shizune nods and says, "They probably have concentrated their traps and warning systems around there, then – it would be foolish to try traveling that way."

Naruto lets the conversation lapse for another minute, until they stand in front of the limits of the barrier seal. Tilting his head to the side, Naruto voices something that has been bothering him since he remembered these traps. "This seal's huge, especially for something as high-level and chakra consuming as a barrier seal that extends on all three axes. Do you think that it's possible that they didn't actually set it up as more than a prop, or that it's so weak that it'd do little more than annoy us if we just walked across it?"

Shizune frowns in concentration. "They'd have to be counting on us to not only be able to spot it, but also know what it is – something not unreasonable for hunter-nin to be able to do, but if they have any up-to-date information about Konoha, they'd have to at least suspect that their pursuers will be lower level."

_'Or they'd know that Konoha's hunter-nin are a joke,'_ Naruto thinks to himself.

"But they might be arrogant enough to assume that they'd automatically rate having the very best sent after them," Naruto counters, having met plenty of the sort (regrettably including himself in his earlier years), "Especially since they encountered you guys earlier. And there's no guarantee that they don't have non-chakra and low-chakra traps beyond the barrier seal, on the off-chance that we actually get through."

"You have a point," Shizune acknowledges, turning her head to peer at one of the barely visible anchoring-seals. "Their anchors are extremely sloppily hidden, too, which supports the theory that they want us to find them."

"If we all back up, I can send a shadow clone across," Naruto offers. "They'd probably notice it going off, but they'd also probably notice us defusing it, and there's no way that they'd miss us going across the forest floor, if that's where they're really trying to drive us."

Shizune seems to seriously consider his proposal for a few moments before slowly shaking her head. "I'd rather just examine it and take as few chances as possible." Naruto shrugs, not really having invested anything into his suggestion. "If the seal doesn't seem properly set, however, that still might be a viable plan."

"Okay," Naruto says. Shizune gestures Neji forwards and moves to one of the corners of the seal. They converse in low tones, Neji tracing with his finger what must be the twisting faint lines of chakra binding the corners together (fading into the ambient beyond a distance of a few centimeters; this Neji won't be able to do much, nothing near what future Neji was capable of).

Shizune places her hand nearby the seal from the outside of the field formed, soft blue-green chakra glowing almost imperceptibly, extending miniscule tendrils into the weave of the seal. Naruto can feel, prickling on his skin, as Shizune delicately and deftly picks apart the threads keeping the barrier active. Her brow furrows as she concentrates, sweat building on her cheeks and forehead. "Got it," Shizune announces after nearly two and a half minutes of delicate work. "Everyone, back up; Naruto, send a clone through to check if I diffused it correctly."

Everyone does as she orders, Naruto making a point to summon the shadow clone using the standard method. Fearlessly, it strolls into the area marked by the barrier seal. Naruto can hear the held breaths of his comrades as the clone makes it safely through to the other side.

The clone disperses. "All clear," Naruto says, voice steady. The group almost noticeably relaxes.

"Alright!" Shizune declares. "Same formation as earlier. Move out! Slowly and carefully, though; we don't want to find out that they had other traps, or lose the element of surprise."

They obey, crossing tentatively over the area marked by the cage of seals. Once again, nothing happens, and they don't detect any further traps. The barrier seal ends just half a kilometer short of the enemy's location, and they slow to nearly a crawl. They (especially Neji, Shizune, Naruto, the chunin Iwashi, and Shikamaru) spot a handful of wires, and Shino carefully guides them around several spider-web laced bushes (his insects having sensed their chakra-based origin) (Naruto thanks his phenomenal luck and decision to bring extra help along that he didn't have to further draw attention to himself by pointing those out).

They encircle the clearing, each acting on the plan that they tentatively drew up as they approached through the barrier. Naruto flanks them from the side with Iwashi opposite, Tenten above and behind him to act as ranged support. He can almost sense Neji's movement behind the Sound Four, Kiba and Akamaru's stillness (raising hairs on the back of Naruto's neck; they give off the vibe of stalking wolves) on the closer approach to Konoha high up in the trees, Chouji on the forest floor below them, Shizune backing Neji up, Shikamaru with Iwashi, Shino on his own between Naruto's and Neji's locations.

Naruto carefully regulates his chakra, cursing that the nature chakra has already petered out (meaning that he can't use it to shield). He weaves his chakra into the background, knowing that there's no way that the Sound Four will miss the other genin, but maybe, just maybe, they might miss him...

Right on cue, Kiba and Chouji charge out of the foliage. The Sound Four react too smoothly to have been surprised... They didn't have confirmation of an enemy's presence, but Naruto can tell that they definitely suspected something. Kiba launches himself high above the Sound Four and releases his smoke bomb.

Naruto feels the chakra shifts and flares of the others. He knows that Shikamaru's shadow-possession jutsu has likely already grabbed the four enemies, meaning that they have remained in place. He and Tenten surge forward at the same time, a multitude of weapons flashing from her hands. Naruto charges into the smoke, keeping low to the ground, all of his senses on high alert.

Someone cries out, the sharp smell of blood in the air... Naruto identifies his target, claws creating swirls in the slowly dissipating smoke, tearing cloth, rending the flesh and muscle beneath.

Naruto pushes off the ground and launches himself away from the Sound Four as the earth begins to heave beneath him. He lands towards the edge of the clearing, with Kiba and Chouji. Naruto smirks, seeing (to his great satisfaction) that he scored on the spider-dude, who, in addition to having one of Tenten's kunai sticking out of his upper arm and a sluggishly bleeding cut on his torso from where the second bounced off his ribs, now has three quite serious gashes right in the area of his hamstring.

The Sound Four try to move (likely to attack Naruto and Tenten, who just effectively painted large bull's-eyes over themselves), only to find themselves stuck because of Shikamaru's jutsu. Said chunin emerges from the shadows at the edge of the clearing, and Naruto senses Neji and Shizune steadily creeping towards the barrel containing Sasuke.

Apparently, so do his opponents.

With a twitch of spider-dude's fingers, pandemonium erupts in the forest surrounding the clearing. Naruto hears it first, the scurrying of eight million miniscule legs. Soon the nearby area swarms with spiders that spring out of hiding, attacking the four shinobi still disguised in the trees, driving all of them closer to each other, to the center. Cursing, Naruto yells out, "Don't get all bunched up!" and starts trying to fight against the tide. The spiders bite him, their venom (unusually potent for creatures found in this part of the world, in almost any part of the world) pouring into his system, clashing with the powers of the Kyuubi. He doesn't make it very far, though, not nearly fast enough.

All four of the Sound shinobi smirk, and the big dude uses the jutsu that Naruto only hazily remembers from the first time this happened. The earth cracks under their feet, and the ground in a vaguely oval shape around them surges upwards. Naruto curses again and pushes as hard as he can off the ground with chakra, only to smack into (and not break through; he loathes this weaker body) the quick-forming walls and ceiling of the prison.

Shikamaru's jutsu breaks. Naruto hears the Sound Four talking – he snarls as the other three walk away (one limping), taking Sasuke with them. Naruto waits (knowing that he can't reveal too much) as Kiba attacks the wall of the prison with his tsuuga-jutsu and then Neji identifies the function of the prison: to suck their chakra dry.

Finally, Naruto lets himself smirk and start to chuckle. The others all look at him strangely, although a light of comprehension dawns in Shizune's eyes. "This'll be simple," Naruto says. "I know how to get us out – everyone, stand as far from the big dude's side as you can."

At Shizune's urging (she clearly has realized Naruto's plan) they all do so. Naruto, meanwhile, strolls to the end closest to the chakra drainage and folds his fingers into the sign used to focus and gather chakra. He concentrates inwards, on the chaotic pathways carved by the Kyuubi's chakra.

The energy flows easily into his hands, much more so than it ever did in the original time (a fact Naruto realizes when it burns like liquid fire, more than it should for this small amount). The familiar rush of adrenaline and bloodlust fills Naruto, turning his irises crimson, his pupils into elongated ovals, transforming his hands into claws, his teeth into fangs, deepening and widening the marks on his face.

The Kyuubi's chakra surges from Naruto (not nearly enough to form an almost opaque barrier like the tailed forms do, but enough to be clearly visible to the naked eye). It floats around him for a split second before tendrils start to bleed off, pulled into the jutsu like a whirlpool. Naruto lets the chakra buzz in his veins, slowly and steadily increasing the amount, guiding it into the jutsu, just waiting...

A deep-throated scream sounds from the other side of the barrier, and Naruto knows that he has won. The Kyuubi's chakra begins to break away from the jutsu, returning to hovering around Naruto. The stone turns to dust, and Naruto sees the big dude stumbling backwards, clutching his forearms to his chest, a keening sound emitting from his throat in place of the earlier scream. The Kyuubi's chakra glows red from the burnt tenketsu on his arms.

Naruto forces the energy that courses through his own body back down, the excess dissipating into the ambient chakra.

"What the hell?" the big dude screams.

"A special chakra of mine that I inherited from my mother," Naruto replies. Technically the truth. "It's highly toxic to everyone other than me. I don't think that that much will be enough to kill you, but it will definitely screw with your chakra coils and tenketsu."

"Annoying fly!" the big dude yells again, slamming his hands together – grunting at the pain – and then onto the ground. He screams, and the earth bucks under Naruto's feet, tossing him through the air. Naruto curls backwards, landing on his palms and then letting his momentum flip him onto his feet where he sticks to the ground (and slides a few inches) using chakra.

Naruto glances up – everyone glances at the big dude – only to find that their enemy has disappeared. Naruto (now remembering this) curses and spins around. "Behind!" he yells, watching as the ground cracks and lifts up. A massive shallow inverted cone of dirt and stone rises into the air, supported by the straightening figure of their enemy.

"Everybody scatter!" Shizune commands, just shortly before their enemy heaves the impromptu weapon at them. They do so, only Chouji remaining in the center.

Using his family jutsu, Chouji expands into a ball and starts to spin rapidly, breaking the massive stone as it lands on him. His teammates have to move fast to dodge the individual boulders. Naruto twists around as he gets clear and sees Chouji charging towards the big dude in his spinning form. Naruto winces as the big dude stops Chouji in his tracks and tosses him back towards the other Konoha shinobi, forcibly breaking Chouji's jutsu.

Kiba snarls, preparing to attack. "Wait!" Shizune orders. Reluctantly, Kiba backs down. All the others glance at her, questioning. "Even if he's already injured, we don't have the time to all stay back and fight him – all of us won't be able to participate, anyways, not with how our styles work. Chouji, Shikamaru, you two stay behind and deal with him. The rest of us are going on ahead; catch up when you can. Don't do anything stupid!"

"Yes ma'am!" both Shikamaru and Chouji chorus. Naruto glimpses Tenten scowling, her fingers hovering near her kunai holster, but she backs off as well. The big dude growls and moves to stop them, but Shikamaru and Chouji both attack in tandem. The rest of the team leaps into the treetops and resumes their pursuit of the remaining Sound Four.

They mark the trees as they run – mostly Tenten, wired kunai and shuriken leaping from her hands to score the trees and then whistling back to her hands. Naruto lets his advanced senses fade, conserving the endurance of his body and the seals laid upon it. Soon enough, Kiba catches the scent of the Sound Four as they catch up.

"Anyone skilled at infiltration?" Shizune asks.

Naruto hesitates and then nods, saying, "Me." He remembers the reason why their attempt failed last time, and Naruto has always possessed a somewhat hidden talent at acting. "I also saw some of their interaction, so I have the best shot at tricking them." He then has to repeat to everyone present the lie that he told Shikamaru, about having seen the Sound Four fight Sasuke shortly before the Uchiha's defection.

"Anybody else?" Shizune asks, glancing around. They all answer in the negative. "Alright, then. Naruto, send a shadow clone; if this fails, we don't want to risk losing you."

Naruto nods. "What tactics should I use? Should I get close and strike one of them, help lure them into an ambush, or just try and get hold of the barrel?"

"Minimum of fighting," Shizune says. "They've had time to rest, and we don't want to give them a chance to go to use their abilities."

"Alright!" Naruto replies, forming the hand-seal for the shadow clone. "If it's okay, I'm going to have the clone wait a bit before making a bid for the barrel – they're going to be on edge just after the big dude rejoins their group, after all."

Shizune agrees with his plan, and Naruto summons a single shadow clone into existence. It immediately transforms into an exact replica of the big dude, wispy and quiet clouds of smoke swirling briefly around it before dissipating. The transformed clone speeds up and begins to gain ground on the Sound Four, while the pursuit team splits up to (once again) encircle the enemy.

'Jiroubou' quickly catches up with the other three Oto shinobi. As he approaches, he hears the words of the others, noting his lateness and then noticing his presence. "What took you so long?" the two-headed one asks as 'Jiroubou' comes level with them.

"Sorry," 'Jiroubou' says. "One of them had some kind of special chakra in insane quantities. It took some time to adjust the jutsu and finish draining him, not to mention that the older girl had nearly jounin-level chakra reserves."

The flute girl scowls. "You fatso," she yells, a tone to her voice distinctly reminiscent of younger (come to think of it, still current) Sakura, "Hurry up and catch the stupid coffin! Isn't that your job, you inferior dickhead?"

"Girls shouldn't use such language," 'Jiroubou' scolds her, hoping that he got the general wording correct. She scoffs.

The spider dude – Kidoumaru? Naruto can't exactly remember – reaches behind himself and starts undoing the straps of the coffin. "This stupid thing's so heavy," he complains. "Take it."

Carefully (because he's still really Naruto and he gets the feeling that, outside of battle, the real Jiroubou tends to be somewhat peaceful), 'Jiroubou' takes the sealed coffin from the spider dude and settles it on his back, securing it in place with the ropes. _'Almost too easy,'_ he thinks, marveling at their overconfidence – for all that they possess Orochimaru's cutting edge technology, jutsu, and training, they obviously have never lived through a serious long-term conflict, the kind that pounds into your bones and mind the lesson that survival and success are based on sheer chance just as much as they are on skill, and that somewhere (almost always on the other side, actively opposing you) there is someone fully capable of making a mockery out of you.

As he reaches behind himself to finish securing the coffin, 'Jiroubou' gives the signal.

Chaos ensues.

Flute-girl curses and lurches to the side as a hail of weapons springs from the trees, the majority narrowly missing her, four grazing and drawing lines of blood ranging from shallow to deep, one lodging into a hastily thrown up left forearm. The other two spin around – too late, one of Tenten's fuuma shuriken spins out between the two, forcing them to scatter. The two-headed dude lands nearby Naruto, and the disguised blond can almost hear (or is it just his imagination?) the faint sound of miniscule feet crawling through his clothes and over his skin, seeking the chakra-vents that humans call tenketsu.

They glance to him for help, but 'Jiroubou' just smirks and stops, sticking to a branch briefly before pushing off and jumping back, closer to the attacking shinobi. "Fuck you! You're not Jiroubou!" the flute-girl screams, posture wary (watching for more of Tenten's weapons – already having learned of the girl's practically prodigious marksmanship) as she goes for her own weapons with her uninjured right arm.

He lets the transformation fade, revealing the Naruto clone, and turns to run. A whistling in the air... The clone throws itself to the side, narrowly dodging one of spider-dude's strange arrows. He curses vehemently as his hand – outstretched for balance – brushes against a much too sticky and strong web and gets stuck. Before the clone can react, another arrow lances its way. It tries to dodge and almost makes it, but the edge of the arrow still nicks it, causing it to vanish in a cloud of smoke.

The real Naruto, hidden nearby, curses and darts out of the foliage, aiming for the falling barrel, but flute-girl beats him to it. "Sakon, Tayuya, you guys go ahead!" Naruto hears Kidoumaru call out as a hail of kunai forces him back and away from flute-girl. "I'll handle these brats this time!"

Flute-girl – Tayuya – smirks at Naruto and leaps away, using a brief shunshin, moving too quickly for someone of Naruto's supposed level to follow. He seriously considers saying 'to hell with secrecy' and blasting her out of the sky, anyways, but another round of weapons distracts him. Most of them are knocked out of the air by Tenten's return volley. Naruto snarls, his eyes burning, and some distant part of his mind that isn't overcome with rage notes surprise that _that_ of all things came back with him, but he pushes back the rising chakra, knowing that, of all the things he can reveal, that is among the very last.

Sakon/ Ukon and Tayuya swiftly move out of sight as spider-dude starts attacking everyone with his spider-webs. "Tenten, Neji, Iwashi, you stay behind to fight him," Shizune calls out as she dodges some of the strands and sends a small volley of poisoned senbon at the spider-dude, "Everyone else, after the others!"

Tenten immediately starts pressing the attack, Neji joining her as he breaks free of the trap that he had gotten stuck in.

The team members don't bother falling into formation as they run, the pursuit too hot, too close, having lost five of their members – two fairly key – and not having the time to reorganize. Naruto feels the Kyuubi's chakra boiling in his veins, and relishes the rush as it dances across his skin, called by his frustration and anger and churning, growing fear. The chakra surges across his link to his three shadow clones – the two nearly at Konoha – likely threatening their stability, so Naruto grits his teeth and clamps down on the snarling fox.

He starts shoving huge quantities of chakra from his feet as he runs, propelling him faster than the others, breaking branches as he goes – uncaring, because he _has_ to stop them, before the jutsu currently warping Sasuke's mind and body can finish, before that narrow window of opportunity closes.

Sounds of commotion behind him... Kidoumaru trapped the others in various forms of his web-based jutsu, only missing Naruto because of his speed. Naruto whirls back around, slamming into a tree-trunk in order to halt his momentum. To hell with it! He dismisses the single remaining shadow clone gathering nature chakra, letting the special chakra surge through his body, hum beneath his skin. He uses it to block the Kyuubi's chakra within himself – hopefully preventing the other two clones from bursting – and pulls forth a small torrent of the fox's chakra.

It burns in his veins, sending a searing heat washing through him like waves of liquid fire. Naruto snarls, canines elongating into fangs, hands cracking as claws protrude from his nails, his skeletal structure shifting to accommodate the vulpine form that the Kyuubi's chakra wants to inhabit.

He springs back towards his comrades, moving like a fox, claws outstretched and trailing visible red chakra. The spider-dude hangs from several strands of webbing as Naruto approaches. He flips, and Naruto – going far too fast to slow down easily or switch directions at all – shoots past him to skid to a stop on one of the mighty branches of the gargantuan trees. He immediately notices the goop underneath his feet and clawed hands, gluing him to the ground. Naruto snarls, pulling on his hands.

"It won't work," the spider-dude says. Naruto growls, low and rumbling, and yanks, pulling his hands off the sticky ground and leaving the skin of his palms behind. The familiar scalding warmth of Kyuubi's chakra rushes through his veins to his ruined palms, immediately going to work on stitching them back together.

Naruto raises his hand in front of his face and flexes it, watching the smooth sliding of the muscles with detached interest. Kyuubi's chakra has difficulty getting a foothold, and the regrowth of his skin goes slowly. _'Serviceable nonetheless,' _Naruto thinks, reaching behind him with his other hand to slice through the very bottom of his shoes with the claws currently tipping his fingers.

Kidoumaru throws another web, which Naruto easily dodges, making sure to use only his feet to run – fighting the instincts that come with using so much of Kyuubi's chakra. He vanishes from sight, the world rushing around him. Kyuubi's and the nature chakra hum together in his veins, battling, giving him a rush beyond what either could ever do on their own.

The world slows down despite Naruto's insane speed, every detail leaping out at him, his mind turning into a whirring mass of calculations and plans incomprehensible to Naruto himself.

He bounds behind Kidoumaru, muscles coiling as he lands vertically on all fours, the unconscious part of his mind calculating the proper force and angle in the few split seconds that it takes for his plan to fully form. He uses the tree trunk as a spring-board, sending himself flying unerringly towards Kidoumaru. His opponent apparently senses the direction of the thick, nearly overwhelming malevolent chakra fast enough and with good enough reflexes to begin to twist out of the way.

Both chakras surge through Naruto, pouring out of his still ruined outstretched hands, the blood flowing with them in order to start forming into a pattern so familiar to Naruto that he could probably do it in his sleep. The Kyuubi's consciousness helps guide the formation, eliminating the necessity of a clone – a jutsu that would be problematic to use with Naruto's current mental state – to help stabilize it.

"_OODAMA RASENGAN!_"

...

_(Then)_

Naruto watched red and black patterned irises fade to dark in the mirror, contemplating the stark, jarring contrast of a bright, open face and fathomless eyes. Out of everything about Sasuke, Naruto had always loved his eyes the most. The turbulent maelstrom they held, like the high gravity of a dark sun, pulling him ever inwards, that hinted at mysteries untold, just begging to be picked apart.

Kyuubi is better than any medic-nin, capable to an eerie extent of mimicking the special nerves and receptors that connect the sharingan to the mind and chakra system of an Uchiha, playing off of the first part of Itachi's gift and taking it to its logical extreme, giving Naruto a level of control that Kakashi could never have dreamed of possessing. And, as Naruto stared at the too-sharp reflection, he took a perverse pleasure in preserving this one favored shard of Sasuke.

"I'm sorry that I broke all those promises, Sasuke..." Naruto whispered, but only silence answered him.

_tbc_...

**Yes, I know that I'm pure evil, leaving the fight like that. However, the stupid chapter was already over 7,000 words long, and that **_**was**_** the only real place to end it...**

**Okay, about that last flashback (and the one before it, I guess), I want to know something: was I being too blatant? Too subtle? What do you think was going on there, anyways? Same question for all of the foreshadowing that I've been trying to do, come to think of it. **

**What do you guys think of my including Shizune and Iwashi? What about the writing style? Is it too fast/ slow? Too much/little description? Feedback makes me a better author, so please tell me of any perceptions.**

**Also, is the present tense getting on anyone's nerves? If so, please tell me. It won't be that hard to change it, really. Was the 'story so far' section helpful? Annoying? Not detailed enough?**

**Oodama Rasengan: great spiraling sphere, or something like that. Standard rasengan on steroids. **


	3. Chapter 3

**So, here's chapter three! Almost out of prewritten material, so chapters after the next might be a bit slow in coming (the next needs some editting as well...). Same deal as last time: I'm updating next Saturday (the 30th) no matter what, but I'll update a day sooner for every review greater than one.**

**Warnings: NaruSasu/SasuNaru, alternate timeline, probably will veer away from canon at some point, present tense, major character death**

**Chapter Three**

_The Story So Far: Naruto wakes up in his younger body the day of the first Sasuke Retrieval Mission. The team – plus Tenten and Shino – goes after the Sound Four, picking up Shizune and the chunin Iwashi on the way. Shikamaru and Chouji stay behind to fight Jiroubou, the big dude. Naruto manages to steal the barrel with Sasuke in it from Kidoumaru, the spider-dude, but Tayuya steals it back. Furious, Naruto chases after the remaining two of the Sound Four, but has to turn back in order to help his teammates escape from Kidoumaru. _

_Last Time: _

_Both chakras surge through Naruto, pouring out of his still ruined outstretched hands, the blood flowing with them in order to start forming into a pattern so familiar to Naruto that he could probably do it in his sleep. The Kyuubi's consciousness helps guide the formation, eliminating the necessity of a clone – a jutsu that would be problematic to use with Naruto's current mental state – to help stabilize it. _

_"OODAMA RASENGAN!"_

_..._

_(Now)_

The swirling mass of blood and bright red chakra with thin threads of his own purple-tinged blue chakra winding through it fills the small clearing high in the tree tops, stripping the nearby branches of their bark and sparking nearly gale-force winds. Kidoumaru's threads snap, but he still manages to launch himself out of the way fast enough that the massive rasengan only clips him as he swings up onto one of the higher and farther branches. Regardless, even a glancing blow from the Oodama Rasengan – even one not nearly as powerful or stable as it should be, not when made without a clone and with this weakling body – is still enough to severely wound Naruto's enemy.

Kidoumaru snarls, grasping his freely bleeding side. His spider threads stretch to cover the gaping wound, staunching the flow of blood. He drops his other five hands as Naruto lands on the lower part of a relatively undamaged tree. The golden stuff (which Naruto vaguely remembers) pours out from his palms to form weapons even as Kidoumaru creates his impromptu bandage.

The sage chakra surges briefly within him, as if to remind Naruto of the limited timeframe that he possesses. Taking several deep breaths to steady himself, Naruto fights off the blood-lusting haze caused by usage of the Kyuubi's chakra. Acting swiftly, Naruto forms a multitude of clones – uncertain how many, just flaring his chakra and letting the ingrained motion do what it will with the energy – which move to help break the others out (Naruto clearly remembers Neji's trick: break the webs by forcing chakra into them).

Neji bursts out of the cocoon that he had been wrapped in on his own, immediately going to attack Kidoumaru. The real Naruto rushes forward to assist, running on all fours once more and drawing Kidoumaru's fire (as he had very obviously marked himself as a major threat with his rasengan). He dodges the golden projectiles easily – Kyuubi's chakra flows through his muscles, improving their efficiency and power (and therefore his speed) by an incredible amount.

He reaches Kidoumaru and Neji within a second or so, his entire body feeling as if it has been set on fire due to his haste and desire to get Sasuke back. Kidoumaru immediately ducks out of his way, and Naruto's fist impacts with the tree directly behind him, shattering the bark and leaving a sizeable crater in the trunk. The wood groans and the top of the tree begins to sway, unbalanced and unable to hold itself up.

All three shinobi leap clear as the tree-top slowly crashes into its neighbors before sliding downwards to stick in place close to the bottom. Kidoumaru jumps onto the sliding tree trunk and uses it to launch himself higher into the foliage, in order to create distance so that he can properly use his jutsu.

"_Naruto!_" he hears Shizune shout from somewhere behind him. "Get a grip on yourself! Let Tenten, Neji, and Iwashi handle him!" Naruto crouches and snarls, ignoring her – intent on finishing off his opponent. "We need to catch up to Sasuke!"

That does the trick. Naruto blinks, forcing back both Kyuubi's and the nature chakra until they hum just beneath his skin rather than pouring out in a palpable aura. Tenten attacks Kidoumaru as Naruto leaps away, picking back up the trail of the Sound Four – swiftly pulling ahead of his companions despite their head start.

Shizune catches up to him, clearly straining her chakra coils into something resembling a low-level constant shunshin more than a run. "Naruto, you need to calm down," she shouts over the rushing wind.

"The seal's not about to bust!" he shouts back. "I'll be able to remain in control up until probably about ten times this much, and even then the seal would remain intact. I know what I'm doing!"

Shizune frowns, but nods. "Regardless, I'm reporting this to Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama. Not that I don't trust you, but I can't risk the safety of the village."

Naruto nods. "Reasonable." Shizune then falls back once again, unable to keep up the demanding pace. Growling, Naruto does as well, realizing that he can't keep straining his body like this and hope to make it through all the coming fights.

About half a minute passes and then, all of the sudden, an all too familiar chakra flares ahead, and Naruto can't keep the grin off his face. "Back-up's here!" he shouts over his shoulder to the others, putting on speed once more, accelerating past what any shinobi of his level should be able to maintain without tearing their body apart.

It would be an awful shame if he ran out of nature chakra before he gets a chance to gut Tayuya for stealing Sasuke's container-barrel-thing from him, after all.

He arrives not half a minute later to see Gaara, Kankurou, and Temari battling the remaining two Sound Four. Naruto immediately throws himself into the fray, cutting off Tayuya's escape attempt. "Be careful of the barrel on her back!" he shouts to the three siblings, "Sasuke's in there!"

"Right!" Temari and Kankurou both reply, while Gaara just nods. Tayuya scowls at them, jumping back to put further distance and raising her flute. Naruto curses, unable to remember what her abilities are supposed to be, other than the general mention of 'genjutsu expert'.

Considering that the only genjutsu expert that Naruto has ever seriously fought is fucking _Uchiha Itachi_, Naruto doesn't consider that to be a very good – or particularly reassuring – basis for an assessment of her.

Both Tayuya and the two-headed guy already have their curse marks splayed vividly across their bodies, and they have even begun to creep into the second level. Before Naruto can yell out, before anyone can make a motion, the sounds of Tayuya's flute fill the small section of forest. Sakon takes immediate advantage of their brief distraction, moving swiftly to attack Naruto – someone who has already demonstrated quite amply his identity as a serious threat.

Naruto dodges, vaulting over Sakon, scoring thin claw-marks across his back using fuuton jutsu to extend the edges of his claws. The sound of several large summonings fills the clearing, and Naruto curses, twisting around to see Tayuya's three demonic puppet-things. Damn it! He should've gotten more information from Shikamaru the _first_ time this stupid thing happened!

He narrows his eyes, realizing that he might have made a mistake in leaving Shikamaru behind – it's going to be difficult to separate Tayuya from Sasuke's barrel otherwise, especially without doing damage to it.

He hears the clattering of Kankurou's puppets from behind him, clearly heading off an attack of Sakon's. Softly, under that, he can make out the rapid shifting of Gaara's sand. Apparently, though, Kankurou's attack on Sakon isn't going as well as it did originally – likely because of the lack of the element of surprise.

Naruto turns around again suddenly, throwing himself to the side to avoid yet another attack from Sakon. How did he get past Kankurou and Gaara? Naruto snarls, dredging up more of the Kyuubi's chakra – his nature chakra has already faded, and the demonic energy burns in his veins. He holds one arm out to the side, forming the swirling chakra of a basic rasengan as he jumps further back, mixing the Kyuubi's chakra in with the attack in order to stabilize and strengthen it.

Sakon gets distracted by the arrival of the rest of Naruto's team: Shizune, Kiba, Shino (have they already dropped that low in numbers?). Naruto takes advantage of his distraction to surge forwards, launching from the branch on three limbs, bounding towards his opponent like a fox. Sakon twists, his hands flashing out to latch onto Naruto's arm, forcing him to let the rasengan dissipate less it blow up in his face. Sakon grunts as the heat from Kyuubi's chakra (not enough to form a shroud, but definitely enough to cause pain) begins to burn his hands.

Naruto smirks, lashing out with his other hand – claws fully extended, fingers curled to direct them towards his target – almost immediately, trailing faint wisps of the Kyuubi's chakra. Sakon dodges again, pushing Naruto aside and throwing himself away, only to find tendrils of Gaara's sand wrapping securely around his leg.

Then, Naruto gets distracted by a sudden displacement of air. He has to throw himself backwards and off the branch to avoid being hit by one of Tayuya's demon-puppets. Her melody picks up speed and complexity, and Naruto sees his teammates struggling against the other two creatures. One hounds Temari relentlessly, not giving her the time and space that she needs in order to fight effectively with her ranged wind attacks, while the other moves to attack the newcomers.

A whoosh of air and sand... Sakon has vanished from Gaara's closing trap, moving to attack the Suna jinchuuriki head-on. Naruto growls and crouches, forming a rasengan in one hand, using the Kyuubi's chakra to form the shell, as the demon-puppet charges him. He dashes forwards suddenly, leaping up and over the head of the charging puppet, twisting in mid-air and slamming his rasengan into its left shoulder with a yell. It grunts and buckles under the brunt force of the attack, but even the rapidly spinning chakra has little effect on its strange physiology.

Naruto flips backwards, landing in a crouch on a branch just above and behind the demon-puppet. He glances briefly around while it stumbles to a halt, snarling when he sees flashes of Tayuya moving backwards towards her eventual destination even as she plays on her flute. He crouches and gathers chakra while the demon-puppet turns around and starts moving back to attack him, launching himself from the branch just as it reaches his location. Naruto rockets after Tayuya on all fours, the Kyuubi's chakra bubbling out of him, turning his movements into a crimson blur to outside eyes, leaving the demon-puppet far behind.

Tayuya curses and changes the tempo on her flute, into something twisting and fast, something that spirals into the sky and summons images of whirling colors and sound. The world warps around him, distorted as if seen through a heavy liquid in a dream. Naruto pitches forwards, fighting to retain his delicate balance of movement as nausea assaults his stomach and mind. He skids to a stop, shaking his head, crouching down as he scrambles to adjust for the sudden instability of the world. The notes continue to twine around him, moving like sinuous dragons among storm clouds.

Vaguely, he sees the wavering image of Tayuya as she escapes, senses the presence of her puppet as it gains on him, and bitter failure taints the back of his mouth like a coating of blood.

Helpless rage fills him, followed by waves of burning pain. His ears ring loudly, the hypnotic notes begin to sound as if they have to filter and fight through viscous water to reach his ears. Fiery tears build up behind his eyes before slowly training down his cheeks and lifting in narrow tendrils to swirl into the crimson chakra around him, lines of dark red that catch the sunlight.

The world shifts, changes color. An impossible shade of red tints the world, blues and purples and even greens washed out or nonexistent. The puppet reaches him…

And disintegrates in the maelstrom that pours through Naruto's veins and out of his pores, a tangible representation of his fury and frustration. Naruto roars, the wind rising to howl with him, trashing the trees and tearing suddenly autumn-tinged leaves from branches, stark against a colorless sky. All of his senses tunnel in on that one point, the beating of Sasuke's heart, the rapid, terrified breathing of Tayuya.

He springs, the world freezing and blurring incomprehensibly around him, pieces of dust and leaves suspended in the air turning into forceful projectiles that score quickly healed lines of blood on his skin. The song freezes on one keening high note, warbling in Naruto's perception, slowly growing higher in pitch as he rapidly approaches Tayuya's position. The sound fades in volume as she slowly, as if moving through molasses, lowers her flute and moves her other hand to her hip, preparing for the eminent battle. Her eyes are wide and pupils dilated with adrenaline, cheeks flushed and the toxic chakra of the curse seal throbbing, her pulse fluttering along her throat.

Naruto zeroes in on that spot, the faint sign of life, the distinct sound of a racing heart (_dokidoki dokidoki, _the most pleasing music of all), the sharp sweaty scent of fear carried faintly by the wind. He leaps high into the air, cracking the branch that he pushed off from, arm reared back and claws curled, crimson chakra and blood swirling with the wind that moves around his fingers in eddies, gathering and streaming behind him like _koi_ flags in a storm.

She raises her arms and ducks her head in a desperate attempt to shield herself…

Uselessly, as Naruto's elongated claws slice clean through the flesh and bone, penetrating the delicate skin on her neck and ripping open her jugular, filling Naruto's vision with the spray of brilliantly vibrant blood that continues to flow as her heart struggles vainly for life. She gurgles, chokes and drowns on her own blood, her face twisted into a look of perpetual horror as she collapses, falling to her knees before the monster that stole her life before gradually folding in on herself. Kilometers behind them, her precious puppets disintegrate, their dust carried away by the gentle wind.

The barrel rolls half off her back and onto the bark with a thud, and Naruto smirks in triumph.

...

_(Then)_

"You're pathetic, Naruto." He didn't even tilt his head towards Naruto, made no sign that he acknowledged Naruto's presence except for that one sentence.

_'You're pathetic.'_

As if Naruto didn't already know that. As if he didn't whisper it to himself every night, after waking up from yet another nightmare (or, worse, dream) of Sasuke.

"Teme," he replied, but there was no venom, no snarl in his voice as there once would have been. Naruto was tired and sick of the war, of the never-ending separation from Sasuke. So what if he was pathetic? At least they weren't fighting (yet). "Why the hell did you call me here if you were just going to insult me?"

Silence, until Sasuke turned his head slightly so that the faint moonlight drew a sharp halo around the edges of his pale face. "You _do_ realize that Akatsuki is after you, don't you, usuratonkachi?"

Naruto failed to answer, his breath stuck in his throat, his eyes burning with suppressed tears at the old nickname. "Yeah," he whispered at last, turning his gaze away from that tantalizing glimpse of Sasuke's face, intentionally failing to see the impressions of red clouds on black. He wrapped his arms around himself and shivered with sudden cold. His eyes slid half shut. "What do you care?"

Footsteps. Soft, not ghost-like. Sasuke clearly intended for Naruto to hear his approach. The blond didn't particularly care to guess why.

A cold hand grabbed his chin harshly and pulled his head back around and up, forcing him to meet Sasuke's eyes. Naruto offered no resistance, even knowing the danger inherent in such an action. Sasuke's other hand, icy against Naruto's increasingly heated flesh, slid slowly under Naruto's shirt and jacket, resting firmly on the center of the Kyuubi's seal. Neither moved for several long moments as the wind rustled the treetops around them, knocking free a few loose leaves to swirl in the air. Sasuke's eyes strayed from Naruto's and down to the hidden seal. His hand fell from Naruto's chin to hang uselessly by his side.

"Do..." Naruto's voice failed, and his tongue darted out to wet dry and cracked lips. He swallowed. "Do you want it for yourself?" Sasuke's eyes slid ever so slowly back up to Naruto's, his gaze flat, giving no hint of ascent, refusal, or confusion. "The Kyuubi," Naruto clarified, mostly just to fill the empty silence.

Sasuke grunted and turned away, removing his hand from Naruto's stomach as he did so. "Sasuke?" Naruto prompted once the silence had stretched for more than a few seconds, internally cursing his inability to keep his mouth shut. Why couldn't he just sit there and enjoy Sasuke's company while it lasted?

"Would you be able to do that? Transfer it?" Sasuke asked after another few moments, during which Naruto's heart practically resided in his throat. Naruto breathed out, almost a sigh of relief but more a release of tension in preparation for the next blow.

"Yeah." The wind moaned loader than that single word, but Naruto didn't doubt that Sasuke heard him clearly.

"Why?" The question, delivered in Sasuke's typical monotone, nearly knocked Naruto off his feet. Why? He swallowed again, remembering with an ache in his chest a similar question from a similar boy so long ago. Blue eyes meeting brown (why help me?). Later, green to blue (why do you try so hard? Why do you reach out to me?).

He wanted to say _'because you're my friend'_, that old worn answer, that comfortable answer with no ambiguities or deep questions attached. But "because I love you" came out instead.

The admission took both of them by surprise. Naruto could clearly see the sudden tensing in Sasuke's body, and he immediately regretted letting his mouth run away from him yet again. But instead of screaming, instead of scoffing or insulting Naruto or just plain attacking him, Sasuke merely asked again, "Why?" softly that time, quietly, barely a whisper. Naruto wondered if he was talking to the blond, himself, or some nameless power.

"I- I don't know," he replied, to Sasuke and to his own silent question. "I- You... You were always _there_, and I _still_ have trouble accepting that you're gone..." And it felt as if Sasuke was already dead to him, as if that thing in front of him was nothing more than a corpse, reanimated in some sick cosmic joke against Naruto. Sometimes it felt as if Sasuke had never been alive, never been real, and that perfect boy that haunted all of Naruto's memories was nothing more than a figment of a lonely child's imagination.

"You would accept death, on a whim of mine?" Sasuke asked at last, shattering the heavy silence.

Naruto shook his head, before saying, "No," softly. "I don't believe that you would... would kill me on just a whim," he continued, his voice rising in volume and confidence as he spoke. "You always plan everything, and... and I like to think that you'd have a good reason..."

Sasuke scoffed. "Don't pretend like you didn't research everything about me and my clan, dobe. Go ahead and say it. Mangekyou Sharingan."

Naruto averted his eyes, suddenly unable to look at Sasuke's silhouetted form. "If you want..." he offered quietly, feeling distinctly as if the world spun around him, as if he were trapped in some surreal dream, watching words come flowing out of his mouth without his direction.

A crack. Naruto looked back towards Sasuke, to see that his friend had punched the tree next to him, leaving a sizeable dent, the sharp scent of blood slowly wafting away from the shattered wood. "_So_ sorry to ruin your plans for noble self-sacrifice, but you're too late. I already have the Mangekyou." Sasuke nearly growled, his voice low and terse, his figure tense and shaking slightly.

"How?" And Naruto cursed his loose tongue, cursed the way that his words had escaped from his lips before he could close the gates on them. And, more than anything, he wanted to continue, to ask 'who', 'why not me', 'am I not good enough?'

Sasuke yanked his hand away from the tree, leaving behind faint impressions of dark blood on the light wood highlighted by the moonlight. Terror, that he had fully and truly stumbled over the line once and for all, rose within Naruto, choking him. "My brother was innocent." Naruto would have thought the words to be nothing more than the wind and an overactive imagination, if it wasn't for the sudden stillness of the world and the terrible nightmarish reality of the situation.

He had nothing to say in reply. 'I'm sorry' felt so horribly inadequate, to the point where hated silence would be preferable.

Naruto fought down his nervousness at the lack of noise, his burning anger at the entire damn situation and world, his curiosity, his urge to grab Sasuke and hold him tight (or shake some sense into him). At last, when it felt to him as if years had crawled by, he ventured to ask, "What will you do now?" The question seemed incredibly stupid to him. He had never been blind, and Naruto hadn't failed to miss the Akatsuki cloak that Sasuke had dropped carelessly on the ground at the edge of the clearing, probably thanks more to the warmth of the night than to any courtesy towards Naruto.

"I... I'm not certain." Naruto blinked in surprise at Sasuke's admission. The Uchiha had _never_ expressed doubt, at least not in front of him. "Madara... The leader of the Akatsuki... said that Itachi was ordered to kill the clan by the elders of Konoha, because they were going to rebel... That Danzou, the leader of ROOT, pushed for the order."

And the first thing out of Naruto's traitorous mouth was, "Do you have any proof?"

Sasuke whirled around, his eyes having flared into the terrifying image of what Naruto could only assume was his Mangekyou Sharingan. Naruto froze, feeling as if those eyes held more malevolence and hatred than even the Kyuubi's. "So you don't believe me?" Sasuke asked, his voice icy. Naruto gulped, realizing that Sasuke was far closer to boiling over than his calm visage would indicate.

"I do!" he quickly asserted, afraid that Sasuke would use his blunder as an excuse to resume their feud. "Just... Not everyone will. And Madara might have lied about or slightly changed some of the specifics."

Sasuke seemed to actually mull that over, his brow furrowed. "There's a comment he made... When I first saw him... I wasn't paying a lot of attention, and all I remember is being so _angry_ and in so much pain..." Naruto stepped forwards, once, paused, and then when Sasuke failed to react he took the remaining step across that gap between them and wrapped his arms around his friend. Sasuke didn't move, continuing to look at something off in the distance that Naruto couldn't even begin to see.

"I'll be beside you," Naruto whispered, as the wind swirled around them. "No matter what happens."

...

_(Now)_

Tayuya collapses onto the branch and rolls, hanging loosely from the straps of the barrel, in such a way that Naruto can tell that, without its anchoring weight, she would have fallen to the forest floor far below. He straightens from the crouch that he landed in, bones cracking as he shoves the Kyuubi's tainting chakra down and his form slowly reverts to normal. He turns to the barrel and kneels by it, roughly pulling Tayuya's limp arms from the straps and pushing her to the side. She slides off the branch, leaving behind a wide and thick trail of blood.

Naruto's sensitive ears clearly pick up on the sounds of her body hitting several branches before dropping at last to the ground with a thud.

He presses his right palm to the wood, letting the slow pulse of Sasuke's awakening chakra flow over him, and prays that it's not too late as he scrutinizes the seal array. It is Orochimaru's usual sloppy work, and Naruto growls low in his throat at how Sasuke actually trusted his life to such an uncertainty. After forcing his mind back to the immediate issue, Naruto starts probing the seal with his chakra, not caring at this point that someone might find his actions suspicious.

"My oh my, Naruto-kun, your team doesn't seem to be able to manage themselves without your guidance."

Naruto freezes at the all too familiar voice before spinning around in a crouch. He snarls when he sees Kabuto standing on a distant branch, the white-haired bone-dude beside and slightly before him. The light gleams off of Kabuto's glasses as he smirks and raises his hands into an all too familiar symbol.

The world stops.

_'He shouldn't be here,' _the Kyuubi whispers in his mind, speaking up for the first time since this nightmare began. Naruto snarls in agreement with it and crouches, his claws digging into the tree-bark.

_'What do you say we make a deal, fox?'_

_..._

**And here's where the story starts to get _weird_. (Seriously. My muse ran away from me on this one)**

**So, yeah. Majorly alternate timeline in the past.**

**What does everyone think happened with Kabuto showing up? Also, how was my grammer/ spelling? The story's flow? How were the fight scenes? Was Naruto OOC in the flashback? **

**Anyways, please review! Feedback helps me improve as a writer, and I seriously do want to hear your opinions, criticisms, compliments, etc. I will do my best to answer any and all questions, although I won't give spoilers. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey... **_**Extremely**_** sorry for the insane delay in posting this. Life's just been... Hectic, and I'm really not sure where my muse wandered off to. Throw in a struggle with depression and totally-not-working medications, and... Yeah, perfect storm, and I don't have any other excuse than that I found myself really**_**, really**_** not wanting to work on anything, let alone this. Truthfully, this chapter's been done for awhile, but Kishimoto went and made it non-cannon, and (being OCD) I just **_**had**_** to go back and fix it, but I couldn't get enough motivation to do so. And I want to go back and fix the previous chapters, too, now that we know what Itachi's gift was, but that... Will take a while. **

**Don't count on another update anytime soon. The next chapter has less than a thousand words written, and I basically have a few moments to breathe right now before plunging back into the sea of insanity. I have **_**so many**_** major projects and papers looming on the horizon that I probably will have minimal free time until February at the earliest. So if you hate insane waits, I'd suggest taking this off your 'alert' list. **

**(Everything will clear up more-or-less completely around late June-ish, though, so I'll do my best to start updating at least once a week around then)**

**WARNINGS: Character death this chapter. Screwy perceptions. Slight fiddling with cannon. Some scenes were awkwardly edited, so potential inconsistencies. Also, Sasuke being a bastard, so if you like happy, goody-two-shoes, Redeemed!Sasuke, I would suggest you go somewhere else.**

**...**

_The Story So Far:_

_Naruto awoke to find himself in the past, the morning of Sasuke's failed retrieval. He sets off with Shikamaru, Neji, Kiba, Chouji, Shino, and Tenten, shortly after sending Gamakichi off with a message to Gaara. They meet up with Shizune's team on the way, and Shizune and one other – Iwashi – join the effort. Chouji and Shikamaru peel off to fight Jiroubou, while Tenten and Neji fight Kidoumaru. The retrieval team catches up to Sakon, Ukon, and Tayuya, who are engaged in a fight with Temari, Kankurou, and Gaara. Naruto separates Tayuya from the barrel. Just then, Kabuto and Kimimaro appear far before schedule. _

_In the past, we learn that Sasuke approached Naruto rather than blindly following Madara. Naruto offered to let Sasuke have the Kyuubi, or at least kill him for the Mangekyou, but Sasuke refused and brought up Itachi's innocence, then Danzou's orders. Naruto joined Sasuke in his quest._

_..._

_(Now)_

A pulse in the darkness.

Sounds filter in through the haze that shrouds his mind, slowly resolving into an echo of all-too-familiar voices.

His body aches all over, pain like burning cold radiating from his shoulder and two thick curves on his back. His eyes burn with their own distinct fire.

A presence. A sensation of something once felt, like the memory of a long-ago dream. Familiar yet alien. Warm, almost to the point of scalding.

Ephemeral images swirl up from the darkness, echoes of distant sounds. Brief glimpses into an incomprehensible future.

_Fire and smoke and screams, and he was standing in the center of it, clutching at his burning eyes._

Light filters in through the narrow cracks, and Sasuke slowly stirs from his deathly slumber.

...

Kimimaro calmly regards this newest enemy, this boy who dares challenge Orochimaru-sama by trying to steal his master's chosen vessel. He pays little conscious attention to the fury, power, and blood-lust rolling off the boy. He only gives a brief thought to compare it to the aura of his ex-clan members with a deep-rooted feeling of revulsion.

His eyes flick over Tayuya's torn body. She was a disgrace of a shinobi who deserved to die, but the brutal manner in which she has been ripped apart, her blood and guts strewn over the branch and the boy's body, only adds to Kimimaro's impression of the jinchuuriki as even more of a disgrace.

The jinchuuriki glares up at them, crouched down and snarling, more beast than human. His eyes gleam blood-red in the dying light, a shade that Kimimaro first mistook for the sharingan before seeing the slit-pupil and lack of tomoe. "Why the hell are you here, Kabuto?" the jinchuuriki yells, his voice rough and deep. The wind lashes at the trees, swirling violently around the boy.

Kabuto merely smirks. "Why, can't you figure that out for yourself, Naruto-kun? I'm here to ensure that you fail in taking Sasuke back to Konoha." Kimimaro narrows his eyes at the possible subtext held in that statement, old suspicion and dislike of Kabuto stirring within him. He remains silent, though, deciding to avoid challenging Kabuto until the spy's intentions become clear.

The wind pauses briefly, trees settling with a rustle and debris falling from the air, like an intake of breath. The jinchuuriki crouches down further, his bones cracking audibly in the sudden silence. A faint expression of alarm begins to flit over Kabuto's face.

Kimimaro processes all of this in the space between slow heartbeats.

The jinchuuriki straightens suddenly, throwing his arms out wide. The wind reacts accordingly, roaring away from its master, slamming into Kimimaro with enough force to break an ordinary man's bones. The wind rips him from his position on the branch, tossing him through the air like a ragdoll, only to slam against a particularly large and ancient tree hard enough that he leaves a crater three times as deep as the width of his body. A thin layer of chakra like fire follows immediately in its wake, too dissipated by the time it reaches Kimimaro to do more than scald his skin.

The energy pulsates against him for a few brief seconds that feel like eternity. They dissipate all at once, leaving Kimimaro to collapse and slide down the ruined edges of the crater as the support vanishes. His eyes snap open and he lashes out blindly, flattening one hand against the tree bark and immediately tying in his chakra network to the tree's. He completes the maneuver just in time as he slides fully from the vertical crater, just barely avoiding a likely deadly fall to the forest floor far below. Gravity pulls him down and swings him away from the tree, wrenching his shoulder painfully. Further pain lances through his body, centered on his heart and lungs, as his chakra network protests any usage. He swings back, only to once again hit the side of the tree.

Kimimaro coughs, his lungs burning. Blood splatters lightly on his pale arm and the brown bark. His vision grays, and Kimimaro has to grit his teeth to fight off the coming onslaught of darkness. The seals that Kabuto traced onto his skin before they departed his master's lair flare to life. His skin shivers and twitches as they begin to repair the damage done. Kimimaro can already feel his old strength returning to his limbs, and he revels in his ability to fully serve Orochimaru one last time.

Unfortunately, the seals are nothing more than a temporary patch to hold together Kimimaro's dying body. Otherwise, Kimimaro would have gladly offered to take the delayed Sasuke's place.

Before the seals can even halfway finish their work, Kimimaro pulls himself up onto the branch. He crouches, gathering chakra, and leaps, pushing off from the branch with enough force to propel him up into the high reaches of one nearly ten meters away. He lands easily before shooting off again, the rhythm ingrained after several years of training frantically in the towering forests native to this land.

Kimimaro reaches the fight within twenty seconds. In that time, the seals have already nearly finished their work. He pauses only briefly to take stock of the situation.

Kabuto had apparently recovered even faster than Kimimaro. He now stands with Sakon and Ukon, fending off the attacks of the two jinchuuriki, the jounin, and the other two members of the Suna team. Kimimaro straightens from his crouch and fires small finger-bones at his opponents: two each towards the Suna jinchuuriki, his two teammates, the jounin, and the Konoha jinchuuriki.

Even though the Suna jinchuuriki faces away from him, sand still rises quickly and blocks Kimimaro's bullets. Both bullets slam full-force into the Konoha jinchuuriki, one dangerously close to his spine, but he ignores them. Quickly, Kimimaro sees why, as the bones are forced out of his flesh, the wounds closing behind them. His other three targets cry out as the bullets bury themselves in their flesh, although none hit in vital areas.

All except for the Konoha jinchuuriki immediately turn their attention towards Kimimaro. Kabuto takes instant advantage of the chance. He swipes at the Konoha jinchuuriki, causing the demon to fall back, before swiftly retreating with Sakon and Ukon. Kimimaro presses the attack against their enemies as Kabuto pull back, fisting his hand and forcing a part of the bones in his forearms to form a blade.

His body reacts far more smoothly than it had for months, perhaps even for nearly two years. Kimimaro easily dodges the sand that surged up around him, the whizzing darts sent by the puppet-master. The jounin lunges at him, hands glowing green. Kimimaro twists out of and under her reach, white bone lashing out to score a thin line across her stomach. She throws herself backwards, narrowly avoiding being gutted, but he has still managed to tear through her reinforced jacket.

She leaps out of his reach. Kimimaro is unable to pursue her as the Suna team step up their efforts. He moves out of the way just in time to avoid being sliced into bloody slivers by the Suna-girl's wind. Strong gusts hound him, preventing Kimimaro from dodging her two brothers' attacks as gracefully and efficiently as he would like. She knocks any ranged attacks off course, and between the four of them, they prevent him from getting too close to score a serious physical attack.

The jounin dashes in close to him again. Kimimaro curses under his breath as she breathes out a shimmering, faintly green cloud of poison, followed swiftly by a barrage of senbon. He dives down off the branch that he had been on, but several senbon still lodge themselves in his skin. His right arm and shoulder feel numb and respond only sluggishly. He has to close his eyes and hold his breath as he passes through the edge of the already dissipating poison cloud. It irritates his skin slightly, but he is safely past it before any serious damage can be done.

Out of the corner of his eye, he glimpses the violent red of the Kyuubi's chakra, but not directed at him... Even more briefly, he sees Kabuto standing triumphantly, two coffins standing erect before him. Kimimaro's attention is forced away by an attack from the Suna jinchuuriki. He dodges yet again, using the motion to propel him closer to the fan-girl.

The jounin gives a cry of alarm, and all four shinobi – Kimimaro and the Suna team – paused briefly to glance over at her. She stares at something, slight fear and horror on her face. Kimimaro follows her gaze, and sees fully what he had only glimpsed before. The Kyuubi brat crouches low in the branches, several lines of blood trailing from his mouth, the Kyuubi's chakra flowing irregularly around him. Over a kilometer above, Kabuto has his arms crossed over his chest, a smirk on his face. The two coffins have fallen open, and within stand the decrepit forms of ghosts from the distant past, faces that Kimimaro has only ever seen in outdated bingo books.

Konoha's Wildfire and Red Hot-Blooded Habanero, Uchiha Mikoto and Uzumaki Kushina.

...

_(Then)_

"Nagato..." Naruto stared at the figure, unable to fully and immediately comprehend what lay before his eyes. "You... Died... How?" But even as he asked that, it hit him: Kabuto and his abominable jutsu, which Naruto had only heard rumor of so far. His mouth went dry.

"A man named Kabuto summoned us, along with many others," Nagato began as the two shinobi circled each other, testing – Naruto reluctant to fight, Nagato struggling against the ingrained orders. Then, in a murmur that belied his blazing eyes: "You no longer wear the headband of Konoha... Have you truly changed so much, to go back on your precious ideals? What happened to your determination to become the Hokage and lead the world into an era of peace?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed, flashing red. "I never did! Danzō seized control... And I had to support Sasuke, who is by far my most precious person... You of all people should understand, Nagato. If you could trade it all, for Yahiko and Konan, would you?"

Nagato titled his head to the side, an unreadable expression passing over his face. "But what point is there to struggling to survive in a world of hatred, even with your friends by your side? Still..." His expression hardened, an almost murderous glint in his eyes. "I can see how you would abandon a Konoha ruled by that monster." Naruto glanced to the side, clenching his fists. "Naruto-san... We dead have no control over our actions... Please, kill me, and end this suffering." Reluctantly, almost against his will, Naruto returned his eyes to Nagato's face. "I entrusted you with my dreams, and that promise still holds true, does it not?" Naruto could do nothing but nod. "Madara... He has stolen the Rinnegan for himself, and raised the slain jinchuuriki as the new Six Paths, each with a Sharingan and Rinnegan of their own."

"But..." And he didn't _want_ to kill Nagato again, to see that furious life burn out – to lose that last connection to his mentor, his family, to relinquish such a valuable ally in the war. "Kabuto... The man who did this..." And he paid for his hesitation as Nagato lashed out, the rippling of his gravitational manipulation tearing the world asunder. Naruto threw himself to the side, using a powerful blast of wind and the Kyuubi's chakra to propel himself away faster than the thin black line's draw.

"I'll kill him! To protect my precious people, to release you and all the others under his command, I'll kill that bastard myself!" The Kyuubi's chakra roared within him and the wind swirled about him, tearing at the trees and sending debris flying.

Nagato just shook his head, leaning further against the same cliff wall that had supported him the entire time. Slowly, black dots began forming and coalescing like underwater bubbles. "From what I've heard," Nagato said, his voice sorrowful, "Even killing Kabuto will not end this jutsu. We would still be bound to execute his final orders." Both paused, the only sounds the whistling of the wind and the roaring of Nagato's jutsu. "Naruto-kun... There are others. The combined shinobi forces are already embattled all over... The one who carried me here... Was Itachi. He sensed your Sasuke's chakra and veered off, I do not know to where."

Naruto jerked back, eyes widening. Itachi! And there was no _way_ that Sasuke would be able to deal with fighting his brother _again_, not so soon...

He spun towards where he had last seen Sasuke (he should _never_ have let that impulsive idiot out of his sight), preparing to leap away, but a sudden ripping force nearly pulled him off his feet, only a sudden surge of Kyuubi's chakra into the earth keeping him anchored. "I apologize, Naruto-kun, but I'm afraid that I cannot allow you to go to him."

The Kyuubi roared within him as Naruto cursed, crouching and preparing for the fight to come.

Far above him, storm clouds began to gather.

...

_(Now)_

A shadow eclipses the watery light. It passes, like the shadow of a great hawk or of a storm-cloud, but the light that returns barely resembles the faint light from before.

Brilliant red, blinding red, forces its way through the cracks, lancing into Sasuke's eyes, into his mind. _Damp darkness, dripping water – a mighty beast formed entirely of some liquid, its nature indistinguishable in the gloom but Sasuke glimpses a gleam of deadly red where the light manages to struggle its way through the darkness._

_"Eyes with such power… more sinister than... once saw … Uchiha Madara... Don't kill Naruto... regret..."_

The glow fades, only to be replaced by an explosion of white.

The world shrieks and cracks around Sasuke. Cold air against his skin, so many sounds, so many scents...

So much _heat_ and _pain_.

Sasuke crouches, biting his lip and groaning, his right hand clawing at his shoulder, his left bracing him on the ground. The wind catches on _something_ behind him, as if on new skin rubbed raw – he can feel the phantom sensations from limbs that _he shouldn't have_.

He gasps, the power like fire coursing through his veins, like some deadly toxin.

_"Come... Unleash me... And your wish will be granted..." IthurtIthurtIthurt it _hurt_, something erupting from his core, corrupting his soul and chakra._

He clutches his head, curled into a tight ball, and screams. The things on his back flare out, shoving away everything around him in a violent gust of wind. Muscles that he has never had before protest the strain. Beyond his own voice, beyond the roaring of the winds (so familiar, like a voice he has heard before), he can barely make out the startled cries of others.

_"So, you've finally shown yourself..."_

Who else could possibly be here?

Sasuke slowly cracks open his eyes. They burn like a thousand suns, and he has to fight back tears to see what lies around him.

_"He... was crying..."_

Sasuke straightens and glances around, scanning the battlefield. That chakra... _Red eyes and skin like blackened blood, an inhuman shroud that draped itself around that flesh, and his breath rattled in his chest, blood wetting his lips. _But, no, Sasuke has only felt that chakra once, not innumerable times, in that fateful fight with Orochimaru in the Forest of Death.

His seal pulses and aches at the memory. Sasuke scowls. Something calls for his attention, and he can't help but feel that he's forgotten something important.

His sharingan eyes take in the situation without his conscious input. White hair, bone weapons (_Kimimaro_, his mind whispers, but he doesn't recognize the name)... A female jounin with short black hair – shouldn't she be more familiar? And... The Suna team. Sasuke scowls at the reminded of his weakness against Gaara, but... A shiver runs up his spin at the fleeting image of a powerful figure standing at the head of an army of tens of thousands.

His eyes move at last towards Naruto, and his heart nearly skips a beat when he takes in what lies there. Naruto with red chakra visible around him, taking the form of some sort of beast _(a fox – even its mighty jaws taller than him, enormous teeth bared)_ with two tails. Beyond him... Kabuto, and Sasuke should feel neutral, but an inexplicable _loathing_ rises from within him, blinding in its intensity, on par with what he feels for Itachi – undiluted by still lingering sorrow and love and jealously and admiration and _why me?_

Why does the thought of Itachi bring up such deep, overwhelming sorrow when it should call up only hatred and resentment?

And before Kabuto... Familiar faces – _no._ _Mother_.

_'But they're dead...'_

And _he's_ dead, crimson eyes faded to a dull black, blood leaking from his mouth... Standing before Sasuke, those eyes filled with even more anguish that on That Night – _"I'm so sorry, Sasuke... Please, forgive me, for if I had a choice I would lay all my weapons at your feet..."_

But Itachi would never say that. Itachi would never beg for _forgiveness._

Sasuke is interrupted from his tortuous thoughts when his sharingan catches motion, threatening from both sides. They look like insects, trapped in molasses, and a giddy feeling rushes through Sasuke. He grins, widely, maniacally, and straightens, preparing for the fight to come.

"…_Never be able to kill Itachi… Can't even kill your own emotions…"_

And then steps back, disorientated and confused. Why would he want to fight them? Shouldn't he get to Orochimaru? Aren't the sound nin on his side, even?

But why would he want to return? Orochimaru is weak, foolish, and he doesn't need him anymore.

But isn't his need why he did all this in the _first place_?

And suddenly Sasuke doesn't know where he is, or what he's doing here. The world rushes and spins around him, and only ingrained instinct causes him to leap to another branch, and then another, avoiding the shinobi that have noticed him. Naruto... Naruto still seems oblivious (as always), furiously attacking the two forms _(they cannot, cannot, can_not_ – _Sasuke refuses to believe what his eyes tell him, that Kabuto desecrated both women's graves _but the redhead should be unfamiliar, so why does Sasuke feel so confident that she is Naruto's?_)

The redhead – _Kushina_, his mind whispers – turns and attacks the other shinobi, while Mikoto _(his __**mother**__, and Sasuke feels the strangest urge to cry) _charges the jinchuuriki, her expression a step beyond emotionless.

_And Sasuke cannot see his friend, his comrade, whose vibrant aura has been eclipsed entirely by the bloody shroud of the fox's chakra. He does not recognize Naruto, and, with a chill, Sasuke realizes that Naruto does not recognize him either. _

She dodges one of Naruto's strikes, sending a wave of purple fire that roars like thunder and leaves ripples in its wake in retaliation, her long glossy black hair catching the light, and suddenly all Sasuke can see is _Itachi_, fire dancing around him…

"_No! I won't do it! Stop…" And that perfect alabaster skin crumbling, like little bits of plaster flaking off. White hands with black tangled around them, shaking._

"Ah, Sasuke-kun, it seems that you have finally decided to join us." Sasuke glances up to see sunlight glinting off of glasses below white hair, and _rage_ fills him again, so much that it must be shining through his every pore. The roiling hatred pushes at the boundaries of his self, as if he is too small a container for this overwhelming sensation.

Sasuke doesn't know what's going on, he's confused and disorientated and there's a clamoring in his head and _why won't it stop?_

A crack and a roar and a rumble, like thunder but a thousand times over that reverberates through his bones and flesh and echoes in his mind. Blinding light fills his vision, searing pain lancing through his skull – ripping through his muscles and leaving them quivering. His chakra twists and writhes within him, excited, disturbed.

_Kirin! And the world quivers at his feet._

He blinks, the world sets itself aright, and destruction lies before him. His arm is cast out towards Kabuto, his pale fingers spread wide, shaking like a leaf in the wind. That arms points to a swath of destruction, black scorch marks along the trees, smoldering. The stench of ozone pervades the air around him.

Sasuke traces that path of death with his eyes. At the end it tapers off. His mother stands there, her form crumbled (is this how Itachi felt?), like a construct of sand that has begun to collapse. Yet even as he watches, she reform, slowly. _(He screams in rage and horror as that haunting face rebuilds itself again and again and ever again, no matter how many times he destroys it.) _Naruto lies beyond her, the malevolent chakra around him subdued but already increasing. He pushes himself up slowly, his head bowed – _hopeless eyes tinted red by the eerie light around them, jarringly _wrong_ in that face, as if they were ripped from their rightful places and forced into an ill-fitting skull._

Driven by some unnameable compulsion, Sasuke continues to search (unable to rest his eyes on her jarringly wrong face without feeling the urge to vomit) until he sees Kabuto, his flesh blackened like the trees. But a soft glow of green surrounds him, and even as Sasuke watches ever so briefly, the destroyed skin begins to peel away and disintegrate, only to be replaced by new, unblemished flesh.

For some reason, that sends anger beyond reason rocketing through Sasuke's veins. He scowls, the wings behind him shifting and flaring slightly. His muscles tense and he leaps, instinct guiding him as he launches himself towards Kabuto.

"_Why so upset, Sasuke-kun?...You're the one who put him within my reach, after all…"_

_That unnatural voice issuing from familiar lips…_

Fire burns through his arms, through his veins, and he would scream if not for the fury that overrides all other situations. His vision has tunneled in on that one point, on Kabuto's form that moves as if in slow motion.

White skin with glossy black hair blocks his view, and Sasuke's heart stops for a moment as he thinks he sees Itachi. But no, it is Mikoto, black eyes horror-filled _(I'm sorry!)_. Her fire lashes up in front of her, a wave crested with flickering, dancing knives that slams into Sasuke, searing his flesh and knocking him off course, forcibly dissipating the nearly instinctual build-up of lightning chakra. Sasuke screeches as the backlash from his disrupted jutsu lances through his body, tearing into his muscles and nervous system. He convulses, blacking out briefly. _And Death dances at the edges of his vision, His cold breath ghosting over the back of Sasuke's neck as his sword gleams red in the light of the full and bloated moon._

Sasuke doesn't even feel it when he slams into the tree trunk and begins to fall. His vision returns slightly, but it is a mockery of the real world, bloody red and the world cast in negative colors like the Tsukiyomi _and he is falling, falling, falling, into a misery beyond comprehension_. His eyes burn and bile rises in his throat. Sasuke hits the wide branch before its presence can even register in his mind, his shoulder taking the brunt of the force. Pain, nothing compared to the agony that has just now faded, flares up in his shoulder and something cracks loudly.

His momentum causes him to roll after hitting the branch, sending his nerves screeching in agony. Sasuke pays no attention to the further injuries that he is likely garnering as he tries to slow himself down, so loudly does his shoulder scream. He leaves bloody smears from his fingers and palms as he grips tightly onto the bark and channels chakra through his hands, sliding to a jarring stop. Sasuke grunts and bits the inside of his cheek, trying to focus through the pain. He has nearly slid off the branch, and now dangles halfway off the side.

Slowly, Sasuke drags himself up with his mostly uninjured arm. His limbs shake, violent tremors running through them and threatening to fully dislodge Sasuke from his precarious position. His skin has gone horribly numb, throbbing and almost cold. He cannot feel the texture of bark under his palms. Gritting his teeth, Sasuke swings his legs around and settles himself more or less in the middle of the branch. Mostly secure, he then takes the opportunity to glance slowly around. His mother has not pursued him, instead having been accosted by a crimson blur that Sasuke assumes is Naruto. Sasuke narrows his eyes, dark dreams of rampant destruction flitting through the back of his mind.

The glowing figure has reached three tails, and Sasuke can no longer see Naruto within it. Instead, a dark mass of _something_ shaped into a demented mockery of both a human and a fox fills the space within, its features like something out of a Tsukiyomi-induced nightmare.

Sasuke yanks his vision away from the nauseating and terrifying sight _(craters and smoldering ruins where once was his world)_, instead searching for what remains of the Konoha shinobi and their allies. Shizune leans against a tree in the distance, clutching her side with glowing green hands. Gaara's sand hovers around her, protectively _(cresting like a wave that'll never break in a vain attempt to protect the thousands strewn across the bloody plain)_. Temari appears to have joined in the fight against Kabuto, and now attacks the red-head, her wind clashing and flaring against bizarre symbols and shapes drawn in fire. Every time Temari hits her, though, she quickly reforms, and the red-head presents enough of a threat to keep Temari tied up and struggling to keep her out of close range. Sasuke can briefly glimpse the fight between Gaara, that other Suna shinobi, and the white-haired Oto shinobi in the distance through the trees, but he is unable to make out any details of it.

Sasuke glances back towards Kabuto last. He growls when he sees the medic-nin standing there, completely healed and smirking. Kabuto makes no move to attack, and his nonchalant attitude, his silent dismissal of Sasuke as a threat, rankles him more than it should. Sasuke forces himself to his feet, ignoring how his muscles quiver and complain, how his vision briefly blacks out and his balance shifts and twirls.

_The world lurches and spins around him, and he falls to his knees, his chest heaving and burning and a warm liquid splatters onto his palm and he thinks _Oh God Itachi_ and the jutsu, his only armor and defense, slowly disintegrates around him._

Sasuke suddenly has the sickening feeling that _he is already dead_. He mouth feels dry, coated with dust _– graveyards and silent stones and ghosts whispering in his ear, just past hearing and a single white chrysanthemum on a lonely grave_ _– _and his chest feels heavy as if a great weight presses down upon him from all directions, trapping him, rendering him unable to move and _he cannot breathe nor blink nor twitch his fingers_.

He stumbles back and slips, his legs crumpling beneath him. Limp and unable to even grasp at the rough bark again, Sasuke falls off the branch, the wind whistling past him.

_And his chest hurts and there is blood on his lips and a numbness has infected his limbs, and this is a familiar feeling, an edge that he has hovered on numerous times. But there is no pulling back at the last second now, no miraculous recovery, and Sasuke's eyes are wide, gazing desperately out into a world of darkness. _

"_SASUKE!"_

His eyes open to _light_, blinding light that pervades every corner of his body and mind. His breath catches in his throat because he can _see_ (and why should that be so strange?). Sasuke dimly registers the wind roaring in his ears, the sickening feeling in his stomach, and his pulse starts to tap out a frantic _dokidokidoki_ in his ears.

He doesn't want to die (_never again_).

_He wants to live._

His back muscles flex, burning with the strain, and the wind catches _something_, like arms and hands spread wide but too much and aren't they cradled protectively before him, anyways? His stomach gives another sickening lurch as he twists in the air, his descent spiraling into something resembling a vague attempt at slowing down. The wind rushes by him, but another sound mixes with its roaring – thumping, frantic, struggling to find a rhythm.

_His hawk screams beneath him, winds thrashing at the air in a vain attempt to stay afloat even as it falls, its form beginning to disintegrate in its pain. A less loyal summon would have already retreated, and for the first time it occurs to Sasuke to be astounded at the loyalty he garners – Itachi, Naruto, Team Taka, Sakura – despite how horrible he has always been._

His wings spread wide and Sasuke twists in the air, and this is freedom even as he rushes to almost certain death – and there is liberty even in that, an exhilaration found in the deadly impact rushing to meet him.

His wings angle slightly, stiffen, and Sasuke's path changes drastically. He turns his fall into a dive, pulling out of it at the last moment _sweeping down on enemy lines, his blood rushing in his veins, his pulse pounding in time with his summon's, and no one can keep up, can fly as skillfully or insanely as he does _so close that he could almost touch the ground, so close that he can taste freedom faintly on his tongue.

But he doesn't soar, doesn't spiral upwards with heavy thumps nor a blast of wind-natured chakra_._ These wings _(weak, useless, not like the masterpieces that replace them_ – and Sasuke has never had wings, and his head spins and vision doubles) give, because of injury or exhaustion he doesn't know. One wing dips low and collides with the ground, searing pain, and Sasuke's tumbles and rolls.

His momentum spends itself, and Sasuke finishes his slide on his front, clutching the dirt beneath him. _He is surrounded, blood and death and ashes in his mouth_ and Sasuke pushes himself up, his heart racing in panic, even though his body screams at the effort but he has had worse than this, he _knows _that he has, even if his nerves disagree.

Heat pulses against his skin, and Sasuke's heart seizes in his chest. This is malice, Killing Intent far beyond that of the Demon Zabuza, beyond even that of Itachi on That Night. He shakes in the freezing cold despite the searing heat that pushes at his skin, but _there is worse_ and memories spin unhindered through his mind of battles that he has never fought, of eyes like ripples spreading through a pond of quicksilver, of_ you will be my light_ and a grotesque, deformed body (_hatred_ beyond comprehension, that someone would_ dare_ take such actions).

Sasuke's eyes _burn_, with the intensity of the sun, with the frigid cold of the moon, and he forces himself to roll so that he faces Naruto's battle again. He swallows, mouth dry, and there is fire in the air, gossamer, teasing at the dry wood and leaves and if Konoha's forests weren't so resilient against fire, there would already be a conflagration.

A fourth tail has begun to form, and Sasuke can find no trace of Naruto anymore.

...

_(Then)_

Naruto arrived horrendously late as usual, shrieking Sasuke's name, and a flicker of memory – "_Uzumaki Naruto has finally arrived!"_ – threatened to distract him before sliding away.

Sasuke tightened his grip on his katana, unable to tear his eyes away from Itachi's slowly regenerating form despite hearing his teammate's shouts.

_Nii-san..._

His eyes burned, and Sasuke could not tell if tears or blindness clouded his vision. Itachi's grotesque form stood before it had even finished healing (_a bloody, half-collapsed walking corpse surrounded by the enormous ribs of an ancient warrior)_. "Naruto-kun..." And why the hell did _Naruto_ deserve such acknowledgement, to have his name fall from Itachi's lips? "I did not expect... That you would defeat Nagato so quickly..."

"I haven't." With a dim, sickening jolt of horror, Sasuke noticed the rasping, wet quality of Naruto's voice – something he had missed in his grieving, furious daze. He turned his head partially towards Naruto, but the blond did not enter his field of vision before Sasuke had to stop lest he lose sight of Itachi. "I just... ran away."

"And he was too weak to follow," Itachi muttered. "Still... He'll be here, far before even the two of you together can defeat me."

"Don't ever underestimate us," Naruto snapped, and Sasuke recalled with a vague sense of nostalgia all the impossible odds they had overcome when standing back-to-back.

"Then prove me wrong." And Itachi straightened fully, bloody Mangekyou eyes again coming fully into view.

...

_(Now)_

Sasuke cannot see his mother, cannot see Kushina (only Naruto fills his narrow field of view, blinding brilliance like a thousand suns in happiness or in rage). And… Fire and smoke dance at the edges of his vision, screams resonate just past hearing, and a senseless terror circles Sasuke's heart, searching mercilessly for a way to seize him in its grasp.

Sasuke watches himself. He is a passenger in a puppet-body that acts of its own will, and Sasuke screams _(but no one can hear, only blood flows from his mouth)_ in the deathly silence of his own mind. His body forms a simple hand-seal, and Sasuke can _feel_ his chakra coils being torn asunder as chakra fills them to the brim and beyond, pouring from his body in a visible aura.

The demon that has possessed Naruto whips its head towards him, its eyes entirely black-red with no pupil, no iris, no whites. Sasuke's eyes meet its gaze calmly, self-assuredly, and something _lurches_ (and that is the only way Sasuke can describe something beyond normal sensation) and Sasuke is falling, falling, falling as the world warps around him as if in the Tsukiyomi.

He opens eyes that never closed and sees foaming water, rushing around him silently, reaching far above his head but splitting just before him. Sound returns suddenly, and the roar nearly deafens him. Yet even over the water his breathing sounds harsh and heavy, his throat raw and lips pulling painfully at the cracks, but he cannot hear his pulse, even though his blood should be pounding in his veins.

The water glows red with foaming pink.

Sasuke's eyes adjust, and in the distance he can see dimly the outline of something glowing in the midst of the water. Sasuke squints, and the figure resolves itself – Naruto! Bright lines like fiery hairs bind him with his arms stretched wide to wide metal bars. Naruto's head hangs down onto his chest, lifeless, and Sasuke's breath catches in his throat.

"Naruto!" he calls out, stepping forwards. The water slams against his chest, hard enough to break ribs or at least jar his injured shoulder, but Sasuke feels no pain, only a cold that reaches down deep to his bones and even beyond. "_Naruto!_"

Laughter, deep throated and malevolent. Sasuke's eyes snap upwards to meet bloody red eyes the same shade as Itachi's on that horrible night, but with a single slit pupil instead of spinning pinwheels. The eyes, lit from within by some dark power, hover in the shadows. Slowly boiling red water rises up and crests, forming into a mockery of a fox's skull around those eyes.

"Uchiha," it growls, its tone both loathing and mocking. Sasuke jerks and twitches, wondering how it knows him…

And then freezes when he realizes that _its eyes are not focused on him_. Sasuke twists slightly, glancing over his shoulder, his eyes wide.

"Kyuubi," the apparition replies in a monotone, its – his – bloody gaze locked with the Kyuubi's. And the figure is Sasuke, is Itachi – is Itachi wearing Sasuke's visage, but with different eyes, haunting eyes that Sasuke feels like he should know. The ghost steps forwards and grabs Sasuke's shoulder firmly, just on the verge of causing pain. "What did I say about leaving Naruto _alone_?"

His tone has an icy edge to it, an inflection that hints at dire threats unspoken. Sasuke shivers, fear seizing his body in its grasp and holding him immobile.

The behemoth snarls. "Why do you bother with this pretense, Uchiha? Your eyes… They hold just as much hatred and malevolence as always! Even in the brat, I can see that shadow of the future… You are cursed, child of lightning born to fire. You weave a lie about yourself, more complete than any of your line's accursed genjutsu." The fox crouches and circles, its form wavering. "But these eyes of mine see the truth, Uchiha…"

"Oh?" the ghost asks, sounding bored. "What should it matter to me what delusions you have, fox?"

It roars in response and the world shakes, the ground beneath them buckling before inexplicably returning to normal. Sasuke shrinks back from it, but the grip on his shoulder just tightens. "I see your death, Uchiha!" the fox screams, sharp teeth flashing. It lunges at them, and Sasuke cannot flee, cannot think, and this is worse than Zabuza, worse than Itachi, worse than Orochimaru. The terror overrides everything, every sensation or thought that Sasuke could have beyond those of prey quailing before their natural predator.

But the figure behind Sasuke just extends one unnaturally pale arm. The Kyuubi slams into his outstretched hand, the white of which contrasts sharply with the Kyuubi's blackish red nose. "The future is not yours to control, fox," he says, and that boney hand clenches and jerks sharply to the side. The entire form of the Kyuubi bursts and dissolves.

With a roar like the ocean, the water all around them suddenly turns and rushes in the opposite direction, into the dark recesses of the enormous cage before them. As the water retreats, the soft light advances, until Sasuke can clearly see the towering forms of the large iron bars. Naruto still hangs there, limp and tightly bound.

Sasuke almost cries out in surprise as the ghost shoves him aside and strides determinedly forwards. His knees weak, Sasuke stumbles, but catches himself before he can fall. He straightens, and sees the ghost's hand clench tightly the bloody threads. They snap easily, shattering and dissipating into the air, and Naruto crumples to the floor. Sasuke rushes towards the two, rolling Naruto over so that he faces upwards while the ghost stands by, uncaring.

But it isn't Naruto.

Sasuke recoils in shock, looking down at a face both alien and achingly familiar. Perhaps Naruto as he would be, in a few years, without the baby fat or chronic stupidity that plagues Sasuke's Naruto. This face bears the same distinctive whisker marks, has a similar outline, but is older, sharper, the skin far more weathered.

"What?" he asks, mind scrambling to comprehend what has happened.

Well, at least the whispers and screams have stopped echoing, and Sasuke can think clearly. It is little consolation.

He turns to face the ghost, sharingan eyes – odd, that he failed to notice until now that he has those activated – quickly scanning the other's features. So like Sasuke's own, similar to him in the same way that this unconscious stranger is to Naruto.

"How?" he whispers, unable to comprehend the magnitude of what lies before him. Those eyes glance over him and something unnameable flickers briefly over that face, the echo of an expression.

No answer comes. The ghost turns his head to stare blankly into the Kyuubi's silent and dark cage. The silence lingers, heavier than darkness. Sasuke's chest aches, his lungs struggle to draw oxygen and the effort irritates his throat. His right hand rises to clutch at the elbow below the curse mark, and Sasuke shivers, freezing in the absence of the Kyuubi's burning heat.

"Where – Where's Naruto?" he asks at last, unable to bear the thoughts that have begun circling in his mind in the silence. The ghost shifts his gaze back over to Sasuke and appears to scrutinize him. Sasuke mentally evaluates this apparition as well, but still fails to glean anything from his expressionless face.

"Dead," the ghost says suddenly, voice flat yet tinged with an eerie echo of pain. Sasuke stares at him, unable to speak or think or breathe, and this is like that first glimpse of Itachi standing over their parents' bodies. He searches for some lie in that unchanging face, a protest rising behind clenched lips, and he hears ringing in his mind the screams of that frantic child. _Dead_, without even blood or cold flesh or ashes left behind as a marker. Just _gone_ all of the sudden, in some other place and some other time out of sight, and Sasuke cannot grasp it. The image of Naruto as _dead_ struggles and fails to rise in his mind. He finds himself unable to believe it, and the ghost talks but Sasuke cannot hear him over the dizzying rushing-roaring in his head.

A single sentence filters in through the turmoil in his mind: "The two minds could not coexist; for my Naruto to have control, the other must not stand in the way, even inadvertently…" Sasuke's breath hitches and his eyes widen. His body tenses and he steps back involuntarily as the ghost takes a step forwards, invading Sasuke's space and forcing himself into the center of Sasuke's attention.

"For what it's worth," the ghost's mouth forms the words, although Sasuke can hear no sound, "I apologize."

Frigid cold sweeps over Sasuke, painful in its intensity, burning like the hottest of fires. His lungs refuse to cooperate, to work, unable to expand and draw in air, frozen in place by jagged ice. Sasuke chokes briefly as he tries to force sound out, panic roaring through his mind and overriding every conscious thought, but he cannot move, cannot turn in flee nor even quake in fear.

He falls to his knees, the previously chilly water burning hot against his bare skin, soaking through cloth and flesh and bone, into his very soul. His eyes remain riveted on the ghost's face, but no hint of sorrow or regret so much as flickers in those eyes. The ghost watches him with a detached look, an almost _bored_ look.

His body gives out on him and his eyes slide closed. Sasuke's last conscious sensation is that of water closing over him, heavy and yet supporting. The heat sears him yet fails to even touch the ice wrapped tightly around his core.

Captured breath shudders out of his chest, and Sasuke drifts off into oblivion.

...

_And as he dies, he catches a glimpse of blinding white and a beautiful, honest smile __a__nd a tanned hand outstretched._


End file.
